Premier Anna Bligh 'wants truth' on dam operations and floods

ANNA Bligh says she will "unequivocally" meet any request for assistance by Queensland's recalled flood inquiry

ANNA Bligh will "unequivocally" meet any request for assistance by Queensland's recalled flood inquiry, including appearing before it.

The Premier yesterday insisted she "wanted to know the truth as much as anybody else" when public hearings reconvene this week to examine inconsistencies uncovered by The Australian's Hedley Thomas in evidence about the operation of Wivenhoe Dam in the lead-up to last January's disastrous flooding of Ipswich and Brisbane.

Ms Bligh said she was prepared to take the stand if asked and cabinet confidentiality would be waived for any documentation sought by the inquiry -- as it had been in proceedings last year.

Ms Bligh rejected the "conspiracy theory" that the government had been involved in a cover-up.

"It is a funny old cover-up to open it up to a commission of inquiry," she said. "What did I decide to do when people said there were questions about how the dam was operated? I set up a commission of inquiry led by one of our most respected Supreme Court judges, assisted by a former commissioner of police and a world-renowned dam expert from outside of Queensland.

"I don't think it comes more independent than that. And I don't think that any commission could be given any more powers than they have been given to get to the heart of this matter. I want to know the truth as much as anybody else."

Ms Bligh, however, could not say whether the former director-general of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Ken Smith, had been asked to give evidence.

Mr Smith, now Queensland's agent-general in London, was on the distribution list for emails from the dam operator that contradicted later evidence to the inquiry concerning the volume of water being discharged into Brisbane River ahead of the flood, and the Liberal National Party is demanding he appear before the inquiry.

Ms Bligh said she had "no indication" that Mr Smith had or would be called, but this was "entirely a matter for the commission". If he was requested to appear, "there would be no hesitation" to comply, she said.

Ms Bligh took another shot at LNP leader Campbell Newman over a land rezoning approved by Brisbane City Council on his last day as mayor, potentially to the benefit of a property development pursued by his wife's family company. Mr Newman has insisted he was not aware of the project at the time the rezoning was considered by the council.

"I think if people go and have a look at the circumstances around these blocks of land in Woolloongabba there are a number of unanswered questions," Ms Bligh said. "Why did Mr Newman never disclose that his wife's family had a financial interest in the rezoning of these properties, and why was the rezoning done on Mr Newman's last day, the last sitting of council when Mr Newman was lord mayor?"