Queensland government told from the start that investigation into Callide C explosion would be kept secret
The Queensland government was told very early that CS Energy’s investigation into Callide C explosion would be kept secret, despite assuring the public the damning report would be released.
The Queensland government was told by the boss of CS Energy “at an early stage” that the state-owned power company would not release a damaging independent report into an explosion at one of its generators, which led to hikes in electricity prices, despite subsequent assurances from Labor that it was going to be made public.
On Thursday, Federal Court judge Roger Derrington threw out an attempt by CS Energy to keep secret a report into the 2021 explosion that crippled the Callide C power station, ruling that the review by forensic engineer Sean Brady should be released to private investors in the plant looking to sue the state government for mismanaging the plant.
Justice Derrington’s decision on the matter revealed that the former chief executive of CS Energy told the state government “at an early stage” that Dr Brady’s report was subject to legal professional privilege and would not be handed over.
The court ruling effectively clears Dr Brady to hand over drafts of his report, and information collected as part of his investigation, to private companies seeking to sue CS Energy to recover their investment in half of the stricken power station.
CS Energy immediately flagged plans to appeal against Justice Derrington’s decision. It has until Monday to do so.
The evidence given to the court by former CS Energy chief executive Andrew Bills flies in the face of years of assurances by Energy Minister Mick de Brenni that the government would make the report public.
In May, 2021 the explosion of the C4 unit at Callide caused a statewide blackout of more than 500,000 homes and businesses.
In June that year, Mr de Brenni urged the public to “be patient” while an external investigation, led by Dr Brady, was conducted into the explosion.
“It is important that these investigations be allowed to run their course with integrity and we should be patient in awaiting the findings,’’ Mr de Brenni said at the time.
The report has yet to be made public, and Premier Steven Miles this year told parliament he did not yet have a copy of Dr Brady’s report, but would be given a copy when it was completed.
“When they get that report, they will provide it to the minister,” he said.
Evidence given by Mr Bills to the Federal Court shows he told the Queensland government it would not be given the report and that they needed to be secretive in communications about Dr Brady’s investigation.
“The evidence from Mr Bills’ affidavit shows that he told the government from an early stage that Dr Brady’s report would not be shared with it and that there was a need to create a confidentiality arrangement with the government to keep communications about the report privileged,” said Justice Derrington when delivering his judgment on Thursday.
“It seems that a communication protocol to ensure that legal professional privilege was maintained was put in place.”
Legal privilege claims generally only protect confidential communications between a lawyer and a client and some confidential documents – particularly those where the primary purpose is a lawyer providing legal advice or services to their client.
In a statement on Thursday night, a state government spokeswoman said that, despite Mr Bills’ evidence, it had made its expectation clear to CS Energy after Mr Bills’ 2023 departure from the company that it expected to receive Dr Brady’s report.
“CS Energy knows this remains the government’s expectation, and has since confirmed the government will receive the report. The government looks forward to receiving the final report to better understand what occurred, and ensure it does not happen again,” the spokeswoman said.
Despite the continuing claims by Mr Miles and Mr de Brenni that they intended to release all or part of Dr Brady’s report, CS Energy has taken Federal Court action to try to block the release of the documents. Queensland opposition energy spokeswoman Deb Frecklington said the affidavit was more evidence that the government did not want the report released
“This is the smoking gun for the mother of all cover-ups,’’ Ms Frecklington said. “Labor never planned to release this report, in fact they had an arrangement to ensure the truth would remain buried but chose to lie to Queenslanders anyway.”
CS Energy had claimed Dr Brady’s work was protected by the privileges claim because it had commissioned the forensic engineer to investigate the causes of the Callide C explosion through law firm Norton Rose Fulbright to protect the Queensland government’s legal position if it was sued by private investors in the power station.
Justice Derrington threw out the bulk of those claims on Thursday, citing multiple public statements by CS Energy that the state-owned company would share Dr Brady’s findings with the rest of the energy sector and that the report was required in order to protect workers and other CS Energy plants from similar catastrophes.
“Though the engagement of Mr Brady is clothed in the accoutrement of legal professional privilege … the array of other publicly espoused purposes advanced by persons who were in a position to know the truth, renders it impossible to conclude that the purpose of obtaining legal advice or for being used in legal proceedings was the dominant purpose,” Justice Derrington said.
His decision details other extraordinary measures taken by CS Energy to keep the causes of the explosion from public view.
The company’s board – then chaired by Labor heavyweight Jim Soorley – agreed to efforts to keep Dr Brady’s work under the seal of legal privilege, and its management established an “internal information-sharing protocol” to protect those claims of privilege.
That included establishment of an internal committee known as “SteerCo” to oversee both Dr Brady’s work and the internal investigations being conducted by CS Energy’s staff.