Ms MARTIN - 1995-11-22
The minister confirmed that there were no engineering specifications for the `mother of all barrages' across Tommycut Creek. In his previous answer, he said also that it was a high-risk project. Given that, will he provide to the parliament the tender documents and details of when the contract was signed?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will endeavour to answer this question. I sat down previously because of the rudeness of almost all members opposite in interjecting.
Mr Ede: Oh, you precious thing!
Mr REED: I have the information and I am happy to be able to provide it if members opposite will show a little respect for the House and, indeed, those people who are listening to this broadcast and who want to hear the answer.
Mr Ede: You should talk! Earn some respect!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: As I explained in announcing that the barrage was to be constructed, the position was that there was very little material of the type required to construct such a barrage in the area where it had to be constructed. The barrage site was 40 km from the nearest solid material. Access to the site was very difficult. A road had to be put in to access it. A barrage, now known as the `son of Tommycut', had to be constructed to provide access to the site. The engineering aspects of the site - the technical factors relating to the mud in Tommycut Creek - were not known. What would it support? How much material would need to be put in there? When I visited the site a couple of weeks ago, 35 000 m3 of material had been put into the barrage and, at that stage, it was about 60 m across the approximately 105 m gap.
The machinery was first moved to the site on 1 November and construction of the barrage commenced on 5 November. Last weekend, they were within a matter of metres - in fact, I think it was in the order of about 20 m ...
Mr Coulter: 8 m on Thursday.
Mr REED: On Thursday, they were within 8 m of reaching the opposite bank.
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I pay tribute to the men and women who worked on the job. They committed themselves day and night to achieve this result. Unfortunately, 3 inches of rain fell in the catchment last weekend. That raised the water flow rate to such an extent that a 20-metre section of the barrage was lost. Some of that was regained, and an assessment was undertaken last Sunday and Monday as to whether the project should proceed. The stakes were very high. The member for Fannie Bay may laugh, but she knows that the stakes were high. That was why I christened it the `mother of all barrages'.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr REED: However, these people went in there with no knowledge at all ...
Mr Stirling: With no idea!
Mr REED: ... of what the technical and engineering aspects of ...
Mr Ede: They did not know that the wet season was coming. They could not have been expected to know that we have a wet season.
Mr Coulter: We have never had an engineering report on any barrage that we have built, and we have built over 20 of them.
Ms Martin: This was a high-risk one.
Members interjecting.
Mr Stone: You have no vision. That is your problem.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: May I just say, Mr Speaker ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: It is pretty easy. All they do is nitpick - knock, knock, knock. Every time anything is done, they ask what they can criticise about it. That was the mother of all barrages. They are the mothers of all failures. All they can focus on is failure and, if they cannot find ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... then they will try to turn a success into a failure. If there is one thing that they have mastered ...
Mr Coulter: They thrive on failure.
Page 1033
Mr REED: ... it is thriving on failure. If they find a successful project somewhere, they will find a way to put it down. They are the masters of hindsight. They say, `If only we had not done that' or `If only the government had done that'.
Members interjecting.
Mr Coulter: Calamity Jane and Chicken Little!
A member: The queen of crisis!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The member for Palmerston knows full well that, if he wants to refer to me, he should refer to me as the member for Barkly.
Mr Coulter: Who said I was talking about you?
Mrs HICKEY: I would appreciate it, Mr Speaker, if you would call him to order.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order, but I ask members to be a little less free with their comments across the Chamber.
Mr REED: The fact is that the member for Fannie Bay, who asked this question, was heard today on the radio saying that we did not act quickly enough and that we should have been out there earlier, not later. This morning's news report criticised us for not being out there soon enough, but now she is saying that we should not have been out there ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: Saltwater intrusion into the Mary River system is a major environmental disaster.
Mr Bailey: That you did nothing about.
Mr REED: It cannot be overstated, and something has to be done to correct it. A decision to take a high-risk shot at blocking off Tommycut Creek was made in October, following the sessional committee's report ...
Mr Stirling: Yes, following our having tabled it in May.
Mr REED: It had the support of landholders in the area. Do you think they are happy that they have lost the $100 000 they put into it? No, they are not! They were looking for a success. However, they went out there positively ...
Mr Bailey: If you were going any faster, you would be going backwards.
Mr REED: ... and they were trying to make it work. You lot in here are trying to torpedo everything that has happened. What about your own federal Labor colleagues? They
Page 1034
put $125 000 into it. Do you think they are happy that it failed? Do you think we are happy that it failed? No! However, we gave it a go. We had the guts to give it a go! You do not have the guts to do anything. All you have the guts to do is criticise!
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The fact is that an enormous amount of knowledge has been gained in this process: the logistics of whether it can be done or not, whether or not it can be done in the wet season ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... to be able to move; whether or not the mud at the base of Tommycut Creek would support any material. We did not know that before. We do now. We know what the impact of the water flows are from a tidal point of view and, although sadly we learnt it the hard way, in relation to a heavy fall of rain in the catchment. We will know next year whether any of this barrage will have survived. If it has survived, hopefully there will be some sedimentation on either side of it, and we may be able to make an assessment next dry season as to whether there is a foundation there for us to build on. That would further advance our situation and put us in a much better position to be able to construct a barrage next year.
Ours is not a government of wimps. It is a government of doers. Members opposite criticise and whinge. All they can do is find the failures.
Mr Stirling: It is not your money you lost!
Mr REED: I pay tribute to the people who worked out there 24 hours a day. Next year, we will be able to build on the experience that they have provided to us now. I am disappointed that the barrage was not completed. I do not see the attempt as a failure. I see that we have made a great deal of progress. At least we attempted to do something rather than sitting around gazing at our navels.
Page 1035
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will endeavour to answer this question. I sat down previously because of the rudeness of almost all members opposite in interjecting.
Mr Ede: Oh, you precious thing!
Mr REED: I have the information and I am happy to be able to provide it if members opposite will show a little respect for the House and, indeed, those people who are listening to this broadcast and who want to hear the answer.
Mr Ede: You should talk! Earn some respect!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: As I explained in announcing that the barrage was to be constructed, the position was that there was very little material of the type required to construct such a barrage in the area where it had to be constructed. The barrage site was 40 km from the nearest solid material. Access to the site was very difficult. A road had to be put in to access it. A barrage, now known as the `son of Tommycut', had to be constructed to provide access to the site. The engineering aspects of the site - the technical factors relating to the mud in Tommycut Creek - were not known. What would it support? How much material would need to be put in there? When I visited the site a couple of weeks ago, 35 000 m3 of material had been put into the barrage and, at that stage, it was about 60 m across the approximately 105 m gap.
The machinery was first moved to the site on 1 November and construction of the barrage commenced on 5 November. Last weekend, they were within a matter of metres - in fact, I think it was in the order of about 20 m ...
Mr Coulter: 8 m on Thursday.
Mr REED: On Thursday, they were within 8 m of reaching the opposite bank.
Page 1032
I pay tribute to the men and women who worked on the job. They committed themselves day and night to achieve this result. Unfortunately, 3 inches of rain fell in the catchment last weekend. That raised the water flow rate to such an extent that a 20-metre section of the barrage was lost. Some of that was regained, and an assessment was undertaken last Sunday and Monday as to whether the project should proceed. The stakes were very high. The member for Fannie Bay may laugh, but she knows that the stakes were high. That was why I christened it the `mother of all barrages'.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr REED: However, these people went in there with no knowledge at all ...
Mr Stirling: With no idea!
Mr REED: ... of what the technical and engineering aspects of ...
Mr Ede: They did not know that the wet season was coming. They could not have been expected to know that we have a wet season.
Mr Coulter: We have never had an engineering report on any barrage that we have built, and we have built over 20 of them.
Ms Martin: This was a high-risk one.
Members interjecting.
Mr Stone: You have no vision. That is your problem.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: May I just say, Mr Speaker ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: It is pretty easy. All they do is nitpick - knock, knock, knock. Every time anything is done, they ask what they can criticise about it. That was the mother of all barrages. They are the mothers of all failures. All they can focus on is failure and, if they cannot find ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... then they will try to turn a success into a failure. If there is one thing that they have mastered ...
Mr Coulter: They thrive on failure.
Page 1033
Mr REED: ... it is thriving on failure. If they find a successful project somewhere, they will find a way to put it down. They are the masters of hindsight. They say, `If only we had not done that' or `If only the government had done that'.
Members interjecting.
Mr Coulter: Calamity Jane and Chicken Little!
A member: The queen of crisis!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The member for Palmerston knows full well that, if he wants to refer to me, he should refer to me as the member for Barkly.
Mr Coulter: Who said I was talking about you?
Mrs HICKEY: I would appreciate it, Mr Speaker, if you would call him to order.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order, but I ask members to be a little less free with their comments across the Chamber.
Mr REED: The fact is that the member for Fannie Bay, who asked this question, was heard today on the radio saying that we did not act quickly enough and that we should have been out there earlier, not later. This morning's news report criticised us for not being out there soon enough, but now she is saying that we should not have been out there ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: Saltwater intrusion into the Mary River system is a major environmental disaster.
Mr Bailey: That you did nothing about.
Mr REED: It cannot be overstated, and something has to be done to correct it. A decision to take a high-risk shot at blocking off Tommycut Creek was made in October, following the sessional committee's report ...
Mr Stirling: Yes, following our having tabled it in May.
Mr REED: It had the support of landholders in the area. Do you think they are happy that they have lost the $100 000 they put into it? No, they are not! They were looking for a success. However, they went out there positively ...
Mr Bailey: If you were going any faster, you would be going backwards.
Mr REED: ... and they were trying to make it work. You lot in here are trying to torpedo everything that has happened. What about your own federal Labor colleagues? They
Page 1034
put $125 000 into it. Do you think they are happy that it failed? Do you think we are happy that it failed? No! However, we gave it a go. We had the guts to give it a go! You do not have the guts to do anything. All you have the guts to do is criticise!
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The fact is that an enormous amount of knowledge has been gained in this process: the logistics of whether it can be done or not, whether or not it can be done in the wet season ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... to be able to move; whether or not the mud at the base of Tommycut Creek would support any material. We did not know that before. We do now. We know what the impact of the water flows are from a tidal point of view and, although sadly we learnt it the hard way, in relation to a heavy fall of rain in the catchment. We will know next year whether any of this barrage will have survived. If it has survived, hopefully there will be some sedimentation on either side of it, and we may be able to make an assessment next dry season as to whether there is a foundation there for us to build on. That would further advance our situation and put us in a much better position to be able to construct a barrage next year.
Ours is not a government of wimps. It is a government of doers. Members opposite criticise and whinge. All they can do is find the failures.
Mr Stirling: It is not your money you lost!
Mr REED: I pay tribute to the people who worked out there 24 hours a day. Next year, we will be able to build on the experience that they have provided to us now. I am disappointed that the barrage was not completed. I do not see the attempt as a failure. I see that we have made a great deal of progress. At least we attempted to do something rather than sitting around gazing at our navels.
Page 1035
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016