Mayor: There are other options for Paradise Dam

THE State Government broke its own rules about consulting the community when it rushed an amendment about Paradise Dam into a mine safety bill this week, according to Bundaberg mayor Jack Dempsey.

Cr Dempsey said he had expressed concerns with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and was waiting for a response.

He said the government was entitled to attach an amendment to an unrelated bill to speed the approval process to lower Paradise Dam by five metres.

But they did so “in the dark of the night” and were making a rushed decision before being fully informed from an independent inquiry, or from a report by a United States dam expert commissioned by numerous local groups.

The amendment had been introduced in parliament on Tuesday but the debate around it had been postponed. By last night’s deadline the amendment had not been passed.

Cr Dempsey said if the Paradise Dam amendment was an emergency, it could have been brought before the Governor to be enacted, rather than being attached to a bill which had taken a lengthy process to put together.

“While they have the legal opportunity to do that, it seems very unusual considering this is … involving a proposal that will be well over $50 million in its minimum costings,” he said.

US based dam engineer Paul Rizzo was commissioned by local groups, including Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers, to put together a study on ways to repair the dam, without lowering the spillway.

Cr Dempsey said Dr Rizzo showed there was an alternative way which could be as affordable as lowering the spillway, a solution which would reduce the dam’s capacity.

Natural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham said there were 13 national and international experts who had been consulted about the dam, and they had recommended urgent action be taken to fix it.

Long-term options for the dam was also being investigated by Building Queensland.

But he said that the dam’s owner, Sunwater, had given Dr Rizzo a tour of the dam last Wednesday.

“Sunwater looks forward to receiving a copy of the Rizzo International report once it is finalised and will consider the report and its findings in the context of the Building Queensland analysis,” Dr Lynham said.