Queensland minister Mick de Brenni claims CS Energy managers misled him over Callide power station maintenance

Queensland energy minister Mick de Brenni says CS Energy management “unequivocally” told him that maintenance on the Callide power station was up to date.

Queensland Energy and Clean Economy Jobs Minister Mick de Brenni. Picture: David Clark

Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni has accused CS Energy’s former top management, including one-time Brisbane Labor mayor Jim Soorley, of misleading him about maintenance backlogs ahead of its Callide power station blowing up.

The embattled minister’s repeated claims in state parliament that all required maintenance had been done ahead of the explosion were undermined by this week’s release of an investigatory report revealing there was a dangerous backlog in the work at the time.

A draft report by forensic engineer Sean Brady into the explosion shows that a 2019 review found the backlog exceeded approved limits and had raised the risks of “increased asset failures” at the power generator in central Queensland.

The explosion at Callide – which is operated and half-owned by the Queensland government’s CS Energy – cut power to 500,000 homes and sent wholesale electricity prices soaring across the national grid.

After reporting on the revelations in Dr Brady’s report, Mr de Brenni fronted the media on Thursday to say he had not lied to parliament or the public but had been misled by then CS Energy chief executive Andrew Bills and Mr Soorley, chair of the board.

Former CS Energy chief Andrew Bills. Picture: NewsWire / Dan Peled

Mr Soorley was appointed CS Energy chair soon after Annastacia Palaszczuk led Labor to victory at the 2015 election.

Mr de Brenni said the advice he gave to parliament and Queenslanders that maintenance had been sufficient was solely based on what he had been told by CS Energy.

“What I was told was that all of their statutory and other maintenance that was required to be done was done,” he said.

“The CEO and the chair told me that. They told me that in writing. I looked him in the eye multiple times and asked them to confirm that with me unequivocally.

“They confirmed that everything that needed to be done had been done.”

Premier Steven Miles and CS Energy Chairman Jim Soorley.

At a press conference on Thursday, Mr de Brenni said that after reading the Brady report at the weekend he had concluded “the advice the CEO and the chair gave me was incorrect”.

The comments raise further questions about his assertion to reporters earlier this week, and after reading the report, that maintenance had not been an issue ahead of the explosion.

“What all of the data shows, it’s on the public record, is that the investment by our government to maintenance of that site has been increasing throughout the term of our administration,” he said this week.

Dr Brady’s draft report, detailing for the first time findings of his two-year investigation into the explosion, revealed CS Energy did not catch up with the required maintenance work until after the explosion.

The report also revealed that in 2020, after CS Energy’s board had agreed to “reduce the statutory maintenance backlog”, the government restricted proposed plans to invest in the facility.

Mr Bills, who now works for South Australia Power Networks, is overseas and could not be contacted for comment.

Mr Soorley said he was “not saying anything, at this stage”.

Both men left the business last year.