DELAYS to unveiling a state government plan for a Gulf of Carpentaria river for two months have been labelled as “feeble” by the Opposition.
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State Development Minister Anthony Lynham said the plan to develop the catchment of the Flinders River , which rises in the Burra Range, 110 kilometres northeast of Hughenden and flows west of Hughenden, Richmond and Julia Creek, then northwest to the Gulf, five kilometres west of Karumba, plotted with input from scientists, irrigators, farmers and fishers – would be released in August.
"It’s an ideal area. The land is flat, the rivers run at their peak at great volumes," Dr Lynham last week told the Parliament.
Four months after the close of public submissions on an amendment to the Gulf Water Resource Plan (WRP), the Palaszczuk government is delaying the release of extra water in the Flinders and Gilbert river catchments until August.
Opposition spokesman for natural resources and northern development Andrew Cripps said Labor’s decision to delay the release was 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 excuses offered by the Natural Resources Minister, Anthony Lynham, to defend his failure to progress the release of additional water in the Flinders and Gilbert rivers for new agriculture opportunities in North Queensland are feeble.
“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 as minister, he was advised these extra allocations would have minimal effect 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 megalitres in the Flinders and 489,000 megalitres in the Gilbert as the next step in encouraging irrigated agriculture in the north,” he said.
“I call on Minister Lynham to get his act together and progress what should be a straightforward decision. All the work has been done, the research and consultation is all completed, and this amendment to the Gulf WRP is ready to go.
“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.”
