David Crisafulli dumps truth-telling inquiry and Pioneer Burdekin in first week

The new Queensland Premier has cancelled a landmark ‘truth-telling’ inquiry, as his newly elected LNP government immediately shuts down work on a mega pumped hydro project.

David Crisafulli on Thursday. Picture: Richard Walker

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Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has cancelled a landmark “truth-telling” inquiry investigating the experiences of the state’s Indigenous people, as his newly elected Liberal National Party government immediately shuts down work on a mega pumped hydro project.

Ahead of the swearing in of his cabinet on Friday morning, Mr Crisafulli said truth-telling hearings scheduled for December would be axed but he looked “forward to people coming to us with ideas” about how to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Ignoring the pleas of Indigenous mayors, who fear the loss of the state’s First Nations history to time, Mr Crisafulli renewed his vow to repeal the 2023 Path to Treaty laws the LNP voted in favour of.

“We’ve made a decision, it’s the right decision, and we stand by it,” he said.

“We don’t believe embarking on that process will be one that unites the community, but we do believe we can do so much more, and we must do so much more.

“Priorities need to be sharpened to work out ways that we can lift education standards and make sure we can provide better housing.”

Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry chair Joshua Creamer said he had not spoken with Mr Crisafulli, but had paused all work until more information about future plans was made available.

“If the inquiry is formally stopped it will be a lost opportunity for the state,” Mr Creamer said.

“People sharing their stories to capture an accurate history of our state is not divisive, and I’m hopeful the inquiry can remain in some form to continue this critical work before it’s too late.”

Only five official hearings have taken place since the inquiry launched in September, with community consultation occurring in Cairns, Cherbourg, Stradbroke Island and Brisbane.

The inquiry, meant to run for three years, involves the collection of the oral history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Queenslanders, and documentation and submissions of government departments and church-run institutions.

It was set up to also investigate the contemporary experience of Indigenous Queenslanders and deliver recommendations to improve health, housing and education outcomes for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders.

The inquiry’s axing comes as Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie declared Labor’s multibillion-dollar Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro scheme was “goneski”, after he ordered the state’s Energy Department to stop all work.

The then-Labor government announced the project in 2022 before it had been subjected to any detailed financial, engineering and environmental investi­gations.

It was slated to be built in the Pioneer Valley, west of Mackay, and replace coal-fired power as Queensland’s baseload needs through 5GW power supply and storage for 24 hours.

In a repeat of the failed Traveston Dam project – which was scrapped in 2009 over environmental concerns – the former Palaszczuk-Miles government had already resumed more than 50 cattle and sugar properties in the valley to make way for the Pioneer-Burdekin project, which it said would be the largest pumped hydro scheme in the world.

Mr Bleijie said he wrote to landholders on Thursday, including 57 who had their properties resumed by the previous government, to “work out a way forward”.

“We are working through the process … but it’s going to be what the people want,” he said,

“You’ve got 57 landowners that were forced to sell their homes to a government that didn’t consult with that community.

“The LNP government’s position is we will stop that project … Labor’s hydro hoax – goneski.”