CS Energy sensationally takes blame after two week-long communications saga following crisis meeting

After an urgent meeting with David Janetzki and Ros Bates, CS Energy has sensationally taken all blame for failing to properly inform ministers and the public of the latest Callide Power Station explosion.

The Callide Power Station.

Government-owned CS Energy has sensationally taken all blame for failing to properly inform state ministers and the public of the latest Callide Power Station explosion.

It can be revealed representatives from the plant operator met with Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki and Finance Minister Ros Bates on Wednesday morning.

Just hours later, CS Energy took full responsibility for the two week-long saga in a media statement, blaming the company’s “deep-seated” cultural problems for the communication blunder.

It comes after Mr Janetzki released correspondence between his office and CS Energy following the April 4 explosion, detailing the briefings and three holding statements he was provided.

Statements drafted on April 4 were not published until April 9 and Mr Janetzki failed to include details of the explosion in his address to the Queensland Energy Club on April 8, prompting questions over whether his office intervened in delayed media releases.

Queensland Treasurer and Minister for Energy David Janetzki. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

Mr Janetzki categorically denied issuing any directive to CS Energy to withhold publishing media statements and conceded he should have mentioned the incident in his speech.

“This was a failure at the highest levels of CS Energy and I’ve taken important steps to ensure these communication and operational failures are never repeated,” he said.

In its statement on Wednesday afternoon CS Energy revealed it bore sole responsibility of issuing media releases.

“The board confirms that briefings and holding statements by CS Energy to the Energy Minister’s office understated the gravity of the incident and the release of public statements is always a decision for CS Energy management,” it said.

“There has not been adequate reporting of serious issues to senior management, the Board and relevant Ministers.”

Queensland Labor's treasury spokeswoman Shannon Fentiman.

Shadow Treasurer Shannon Fentiman travelled to Mr Janetzki’s Toowoomba electorate on Wednesday and urged him to front the media over the saga.

“What did he advise CS energy to do with those media releases?” she said.

“Because he sure as hell didn’t advise them to put out those media releases, because then Queenslanders would have known about this explosion.”

Ms Fentiman called the conduct a “serious failure” of the government, describing it as a “cover-up”.

CS Energy blamed the poor communication on internal issues, vowing to stamp out the “major cultural problems” identified in the Brady Report.

“The recent incident has once again highlighted the deep-seated cultural problems at CS Energy that have not been addressed,” it said.

In response to the explosion, the CS Energy board sacked Callide Power Station general manager Mick Hill and brought forward the termination of chief executive Darren Busine who resigned the day before the explosion and was due to leave the company in May.

CS Energy will also now be required to communicate all energy outages to Queenslanders, similar to the real time outage websites used by Energex and Ergon.

The operator welcomed the reporting change and is “seeking a full briefing into how advice is provided to relevant ministers and their offices, and a review into the operation and culture of government-owned corporations.”

Originally published as CS Energy sensationally takes blame after two week-long communications saga following crisis meeting