Labor axed local water project, claims Llew

LLEW O’Brien says that the State and Federal Labor Government’s secret cancellation of an $18 million grant for a water storage project in Maryborough will reduce agricultural production and turn off investment.

The Federal Member for Wide Bay said that the project, announced in April 2019, was initially delayed when the closure of the Maryborough Sugar Mill was announced in November 2020. Subsequently Maryborough Canegrowers and Rural Funds Management worked with representatives from Sunwater to advance the proposal.

“We know this is the water security project for Maryborough that the Queensland State Labor Government never wanted - and now they have conspired with the Federal Albanese Labor Government to kill it off,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Negotiations between all parties were proceeding up until the time of the May 2022 Federal election. It was anticipated a contract would be in place in time for the new Federal Government’s contract execution deadline of 28 April 2023.”

“But leading up to that deadline there was a wall of silence from Sunwater, and enquiries from my office to the Government were not responded to,” Mr O’Brien said.

“(Recently) in Senate Estimates, my suspicions that the deal had been secretly killed off were confirmed, when Senator Bridget McKenzie asked the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Communication, Regional Development and the Arts if a contract for the project was executed.”

In response, the Department said on 24 March 2023 it received