THERE were winners and there were losers for those wanting to bid on water allocations in the Gulf country.
Those in the Flinders River catchment will be able to bid for water allocations later this year, while those in Gilbert River region will have to wait indefinitely, the Palaszczuk Government announced yesterday.
Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the government would call tenders in the third quarter of this year to allow business and industry to bid to use more than a quarter of a million megalitres in the Flinders River catchment.
“We will make this valuable resource available to individuals, businesses and industry: a resource that has the potential to support up to 12,000 hectares of irrigated agriculture and establish more rural industry jobs in the Flinders catchment.”
However, Dr Lynham said the government was not in a position to release any unallocated water in the Gilbert River catchment until an EIS for the $1.98 billion Etheridge Integrated Agriculture Project had been completed.
Dr Lynham said the Gilbert and Flinders Rivers unallocated water resources were currently being finalised in a review of the Gulf Water Resource Plan.
“The draft Gulf Water Resource Plan also contemplates an unallocated water reserve of almost half-a-million megalitres of water in the Gilbert River catchment.”
Shadow Minister for Natural Resources and Northern Development Andrew Cripps labelled the government’s decision to delay the release as unacceptable and unnecessary.
“This Labor Government has had plenty of time to consider the issues and release the new Gulf WRP,” Mr Cripps said.
“The science is in and is backed up by a comprehensive CSIRO Report. The volumes of additional unallocated water to be released are sustainable, so I can’t understand why this new Labor Minister is taking so long to get things moving.”
Mr Cripps said during his time as Minister he was advised that these additional allocations would have minimal impact on downstream processes and could achieve roughly the same reliability as existing entitlements.
“The previous LNP Government had progressed the amendment to the Gulf WRP for an additional 266,000 mega litres in the Flinders and 489,000 mega litres in the Gilbert as the next step in encouraging irrigated agriculture in the north,” he said.
“All the work has been done, the research and consultation is all completed and this amendment to the Gulf WRP is ready to go.”
Dr Lynham said the government’s decision to not release unallocated water in the Gilbert River catchment would not impact on the Flinders catchment outcomes in the final Gulf Water Resource Plan,.
The catchments were a priority state government focus for agricultural development, with their ready access to national and international markets via ports and airports in Townsville, Darwin, Cairns and Brisbane, he said.
“The final steps involved in the process is for the Minister to approve the amendment to the Gulf WRP and release the new unallocated water through a competitive tender process, which would encourage new investment in North Queensland.”
These announcements have been roundly criticised by the Wilderness Society, which accused the Palaszcuk Government as being no different to the LNP Government.