Thursday, 21 January, 2021
0408 457 496 Phone: 07 4661 9800 Trades and Classifieds: 1300 666 808
12460238-NG36-20
A Star News Group Publication
53 Fitzroy Street, Warwick Qld 4370 www.helenharm.com
K hubs are coming
Big weekend ahead
‘J&J’ workshops underway
What’s in the diary
PAGE 3
PAGES 8-9
PAGE 18
PAGE 33
New digs for community radio station Ten FM sets up operations in the Stanthorpe Civic Centre to expand its activities, with volunteers being the voices of the airwaves across the Granite Belt… STORY PAGE 4.
Carting keeps up By Jeremy Sollars Despite some significant falls of rain - at least in places - across the region since Christmas our major dams remain low and carting of water from Warwick to Stanthorpe is set to continue for the foreseeable future, with State Government funding in place until at least June. Heavy yet relatively isolated falls in eastern parts of the Warwick area - such as Killarney have seen some creeks run with a ‘fresh’, but crucially the Leslie and Connolly dam catchments in Warwick and Storm King Dam in Stanthorpe have seen next to no inflow in recent days. Leslie Dam this week is at 12.3 per cent of full capacity with just over 13,000 megalitres (ML) in storage - still well short of the 15,000ML level needed to allow releases for downstream farmers. The much smaller Connolly Dam - which is currently set aside for the Stanthorpe supply is just under 80 per cent full with 1709ML in storage, while Storm King Dam is at just over 21 per cent, with 430ML, enough to supply Stanthorpe with water for four months if it was
currently ‘online’. The council has said Storm King would need to reach at least a six-month supply level before being re-activated for Stanthorpe’s urban water supply. For its part the council says overall water consumption across Stanthorpe has in recent months been less than anticipated - despite all towns in the region continuing to exceed the 120 litre per person-per day water consumption target, averaging between 150 to 165 litres daily per person - which means the current carting arrangement can stay in place well past February, when it was originally forecast to be re-negotiated. Under the arrangement - which has been in place for 12 months, with carting having commenced this same week back in January of 2020 - the council foots the $800,000 monthly bill for the carting operation and is reimbursed by the State Government. Mayor Vic Pennisi and council chief executive officer Dave Burges this week told the Free Times the current funding deal should last until June of this year based on current Stanthorpe water consumption levels, at which point the SDRC
and the government will formally review the agreement. For her part, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said at the start of 2020 that she would “not allow” any town in Queensland to run out of water on her watch. But also in January of last year, on a flying visit to Warwick, the Premier announced plans to build a pipeline from Toowoomba to Warwick, to allow the region to access future emergency water from Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam, which currently supplies Toowoomba in times of need through an existing $187 million pipeline across the range. Ms Palaszczuk said last January - pre-Covid - that work on the pipeline could commence by the end of 2020 but since then the silence on the project from the Premier has been deafening. The Free Times asked State Water Minister Glenn Butcher for an update on the pipeline this week and received the following response “Water security in the Toowoomba and Darling Downs region is a high priority for the Palaszczuk Government,” the minister said. “We’re in the process of considering the
Toowoomba to Warwick Pipeline report including taking into account the needs of both the Toowoomba and Southern Downs councils. “I have already had a conversation with Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio regarding water security in the region and plan to speak with Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor Vic Pennisi in the coming weeks. “I welcome the opportunity to continue working collaboratively with both councils into the future.” It is understood the Southern Downs Regional Council has had in its possession for several months a report on the pipeline prepared by Wivenhoe Dam operator Seqwater but despite requests from the Free Times for more information the report remains confidential. Cr Pennisi has several times expressed concern about the potential cost to our region of the pipeline project, if the State Government were to pass on a share of the construction to local ratepayers - total project estimates based on the cost of the Wivenhoe-Toowoomba pipeline put the Toowoomba-Warwick project at least at $90 million.
SUBSCRIBE to our DIGITAL EDITION - It’s FREE freetimes.com.au/subscribe
12469654-JW46-20
• Home and Contents • Motor Vehicle • Caravan • Boat
Granite Belt Insurance Brokers ABN 32 054 247 666 is an Authorised Representative 271148 of Insurance House Pty Ltd ABN 33 006 500 072 AFSL 240954
12460834-LB51-20
.au.au gbib.com ers.com
granitebeltinsurancebrok
12460662-DL37-20
SUPPLYING THE SOUTHERN DOWNS & GRANITE BELT REGION WITH THE BEST FRESH PRODUCE
12459969-DL36-20
35a Railway Street, STANTHORPE Q 4380 • Commercial Motor Insurance • Business Insurance • Liability Insurance • Rural Insurance • Professional Indemnity Insurance • Personal Insurance including:
6945913aa
[07] 4681 1289
OLSEN’S
Specialising in Commercial, Industrial and Domestic Sheds. Made from Bluescope Australian Steel Full service - Slab, Erection & Councils
OPEN Mon - Fri: 7am – 6pm Sat: 8am – 4pm | CLOSED SUNDAYS FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK
P: 4661 9871
Find us in Rose City Shoppingworld opposite Coles
QBCC1197750 NSW237076c Phone Neal Simpson on 07
4661 9835
warwick@rfsteelbuildings.com.au
GO WHERE THE TRADIES GO 48 FITZROY STREET, WARWICK Ph: 07 4661 3900 12456894-JW32-20