Queensland ALP ‘hiding behind lawyers’ robes’ over Callide C explosion report

Queensland’s Labor government has been accused of trying to cover up the causes of a catastrophic explosion at one of the largest state-owned coal-fired power stations ahead of the October state election.

Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni. Picture Lachie Millard

Queensland’s Labor government has been accused of trying to cover up the causes of a catastrophic explosion at one of the largest state-owned coal-fired power stations ahead of the Oct­ober state election.

The government-owned CS Energy has taken Federal Court action to try to block release of documents relating to an investigation by forensic engineer Sean Brady into the causes of an explosion that crippled the Callide C power station in May 2021.

Three months after Premier Steven Miles told parliament he looked forward to “making as much of it public as we can”, lawyers for CS Energy argued in court that the report should stay secret because it was commissioned to protect the Queensland government’s legal position.

Liberal National Party energy spokeswoman Deb Frecklington said the government was “hiding behind lawyers’ robes to stop the truth getting out”.

“For more than 1000 days, Labor has done everything possible to cover up what’s happened at the Callide power plant,” she said.

Liberal National Party energy spokeswoman Deb Frecklington. Picture: Liam Kidston

“It is time this Premier and the Energy Minister stood up and released the Brady report. Why does it take a federal court to order the state government to release this report? It should not come to that.”

Revelations in the Federal Court this week mean Dr Brady’s full findings may never be made public, after CS Energy and its lawyers, Norton Rose Fulbright, claimed the report’s contents – and correspondence about delays to its delivery – were covered by legal professional privilege and should not be handed over to the private investors in Callide C suing to access its ­contents.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni refused to say when he knew CS Energy would be claiming legal privilege, telling The Australian it would be inappropriate to comment on legal proceedings and potentially prejudice the interests of a government-owned corporation.

“The report is not in the possession of government; when the government has Dr Brady’s findings, we will respond to them ­appropriately.

“We will always pursue the highest levels of trans­parency and accountability and so when government receives Dr Brady’s findings, we will be faithful to those commitments in terms of releasing what we can.”

Mr de Brenni wrote to CS Energy earlier this year, giving the company a “firm deadline” of March 29 to hand over Dr Brady’s report, but on Wednesday confirmed they had failed to meet it.

“They’re not in a position … to meet that (deadline) because they don’t have the report themselves,” he said.

When Dr Brady’s investigation began in June 2021, CS Energy said he would “assess both technical and organisational factors that could have contributed to the ­incident” but the Federal Court heard on Tuesday that Dr Brady was instructed by Norton Rose Fulbright, on behalf of CS Energy, to give advice on the cause of the incident – and a second disaster at the plant in 2022 – and “any potential claims that may arise out of those incidents”.