Govt to move on FNQ water

The Palaszczuk Government will soon release industry-boosting tenders for water in Far North Queensland.

Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the government would call tenders in the fourth 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.

“The Palaszczuk Government is committed to unlocking economic growth and jobs in the agricultural sector in Far North Queensland,” he said.

“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.”

The Flinders Rivers is Queensland’s longest river at 1004 km, with a catchment that covers about 109 000 square kilometres. Its head waters begin in the uplands of the Great Dividing Range and drain to the sea near the port town of Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Dr Lynham said the Gilbert and Flinders Rivers unallocated water resources were currently being finalised in a review of the Gulf Water Resource Plan, informed by comprehensive water and soil science assembled by CSIRO and the Department of Natural Resources and Mines.

“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.”

Dr Lynham said the Government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Integrated Food and Energy Developments Pty Ltd (IFED) for its proposed Etheridge Integrated Agriculture Project regarding future access to water in the Gilbert catchment.

“The Government is not in a position to release any unallocated water in the Gilbert River catchment until IFED has completed its Environment Impact Assessment process,” he said.

“However, the IFED proposal will not impact on the implementation of the Flinders catchment outcomes in the final Gulf Water Resource Plan,” he said.

Dr Lynham said 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.

“Making this water available is delivering on our election commitment to provide strong support to the private sector to develop the North’s water and land resources sustainably,” he said.

“Communities like Hughenden, Richmond and Cloncurry and the supply chain businesses in those towns will be the beneficiaries of this water release and the sustainable growth it will support.”

ENDS

June 4, 2015

Media Contact:      Jan Martin  3719 7370 or 0439 341 314