George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Townsville residents are feeling the pinch again this dry season with water restrictions and also the cost of pumping water from Burdekin Falls Dam because the Ross River Dam can't meet demand. The dam is conveniently located for flow into the city but its capacity is small. The Burdekin Falls Dam is a monster by comparison, fed by 71 rivers and 52 sub-catchments. The Liberal-National government is rolling out two major funding programs that can help with water infrastructure. The first is the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and the second is the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund.

The government has already committed $2 million for a feasibility study into Hell's Gate Dam, almost $2 million to upgrade the Burdekin-Haughton channel and $400,000 to start raising the wall of the Burdekin Falls Dam. The government has also formed a Townsville water security task force as part of the Townsville City Deal. That task force released a report in June, recommending a $200 million increased capacity duplicate pipeline from the Haughton pump station to Ross River Dam. This solution would provide more security and could be constructed within two years. I met with key stakeholders in Townsville, and I know there is a lot of support for this solution. I acknowledge the hard work of council mayor, Jenny Hill, the head of the task force, Brad Webb, and Water for Townsville Action Group—especially the time and effort put in by Dr Linda Ashton and Allan Lane. I will continue to represent their views in this parliament within this government and push for the funding required to deliver a secure supply of water for Townsville.