Gilbert water flow waits on IFED nod

It released additional water entitlements in the Flinders and Gilbert Rivers under an amended Gulf Water Resource Plan, opening up another 239,650ML to potential Flinders irrigators and making 467,000ML available in the Gilbert catchment. However, it said the Gilbert catchment reserves wouldn't be made available until after the IFED EIS was done.

A Memorandum of Understanding was agreed on in June between the $2b IFED project in far north Queensland and the state government, under which the government agreed to provide the company access to 555,000ML of water a year if the project gains environmental approvals.

IFED chairman Keith DeLacy denied claims of favouritism at the time, saying it provided more certainty for investors. Last week's announcement was criticised by shadow Natural Resources Minister Andrew Cripps, who described the decision to allow Flinders water releases to go ahead when Stanbroke's proposed Three Rivers greenfield irrigation project was subject to its own EIS, as "inconsistent", when it was delaying the Gilbert water release until the outcome of the IFED EIS was known.

Natural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham has responded by saying the government had "solid, sensible reasons" for handling the unallocated water release process differently between the two catchments. "Stanbroke proposes a $200m major cotton-growing project in the Flinders catchment. They already have 28,800ML of water granted from the previous Gulf tender process. As a landowner, they are also eligible to tender for the next release.

"Their proposed water needs can also be accommodated by unallocated water available in the Flinders River catchment. "It makes sense to release water in the Flinders catchment as soon as possible, and allow Stanbroke to compete in a transparent market process."

Dr Lynham said that in contrast, the IFED proposal required more water than was available in the Gilbert River catchment.

The government needed to wait for the independent scientific assessment to be completed to determine the water the "potentially valuable" project required, he said.

"If we go to tender before having this information we will jeopardise this project."

Etheridge mayor Will Atwood last week said he had fielded a number of calls from people wondering how a number of competing projects could be accommodated under the amended water plan. Following a briefing with a ministerial policy adviser, he said the council understood the procedure in place.

"There's no role for us at the moment. We are just in the background preparing for possible infrastructure needs," he said.

Cr Atwood said an inspection of proposed Gilbert River tenderers showed that Strathmore was the only group with a business plan so far.

Strathmore manager Peter Anderson agreed.

"We have the runs on the board, and the department is doing trials here," he said. "We'll just have to see where that goes."

Dr Lynham said the government supported job-generating development opportunities, as long as they stacked up commercially, environmentally and for the community.

As well as the main water releases announced last week, smaller releases of 8500ML in the Flinders and 17,000ML in the Gilbert are available for projects that advance the social and economic aspirations of indigenous people.