Former MPS push case for Burdekin Falls Dam full height

AS the new Labor federal government delays decisions on the Hells Gates Dam, two of Townsville’s longestserving Labor and Liberal MPS have joined forces to argue the case for building the Burdekin Falls Dam stage 2 to its full height.

Former Liberal MP Peter Lindsay and former Labor MP Ted Lindsay, both now retired, say the dam’s upgrade is a “no-brainer” and question the focus on Hells Gates by the former Coalition government and the region’s peak development body Townsville Enterprise.

They also oppose the Labor state government’s plans to limit the raising of the Burdekin Falls Dam’s stage 2, which has the potential to be 14.6m but which is being assessed at 2m.

“When you look at the case for the Burdekin Falls Dam stage 2 it’s a no-brainer. It will provide the biggest boost in the North,” Peter

Lindsay says. He says the previous federal government wasted seven years doing studies on Hells Gates when it should have focused on the Burdekin Falls Dam.

Ted Lindsay, like his Liberal counterpart, served five consecutive terms as the Member for Herbert and was instrumental in pushing for development of the Burdekin dam in the 1970s and ‘80s before it was built by the Hawke government in 1987.

He says it will be a “catastrophe” for the state government to limit the dam’s height because it will prevent it realising its full benefits in water supply and hydroelectricity.

This would also limit a gravity-fed water supply for Townsville and the development of emerging industries like hydrogen production.

“The obvious choice is Burdekin stage 2. All the land has been resumed to allow for that to happen. All the saddle dams are complete,” Ted Lindsay said.