North Queensland slapped with a $7bn funding cut

The Federal Government is likely to slam our region by taking $7bn in funding from the budget, including Hells Gates Dam which was fully funded in the previous federal budget subject to a business case.

Townsville Enterprise CEO, Claudia Brumme-Smith said the detailed business case for the Hells Gates Dam was delivered to the State and Federal Governments in May 2022 and it stacks up.

“The full business case is in, and it shows that Hells Gates Dam delivers jobs and opportunities for North Queensland. This dam was fully funded in the last budget, not just promised at the last election,” Mrs Brumme-Smith said.

“The Federal Government must decide if they want to hurt regional Queenslanders and those who rely on new jobs and new industries like hydrogen that will flow from this project. Labor won’t be rewarded by regional voters for cancelling fully funded regional projects.”

“Globally we have a food and an energy crisis and North Queensland, with Hells Gates Dam, can provide a secure future supply of both.”

“The last dam was built almost 40 years ago in North Queensland and our population has doubled in this time. Without the key infrastructure from the Federal Government, we will not secure the future of North Queensland.”

“Hells Gates Dam was put forward by the community because there is a need for water security in Northern Australia. The region requires population, agriculture, and renewable energy. All of this requires water allocations and storage. With climate change, we are facing the same amount of rainfall in a shorter period, which makes an additional capacity dam critical.”