Fitzroy Barrage: Irrigators Seek Fair Cost Sharing

0:00It's April 8th. This is Sydney News Today, driven by AI. Central Queensland irrigators are pushing hard for stand-well power station and the Gladstone Area Water Board to chip in on costs for the Ray-Pair-owned Fitzroy River Barrage. Rock Hampton Regional Council just hiked water charges by $15 million over five years to keep the infrastructure running smooth. These irrigators, about 70 strong on the lower Fitzroy River, say the power station and water board pump straight from the barrage without paying. Up, the barrage holds river levels high for their operations and stops salty tidal water for messing up fresh water supplies. It's been key for stand-wells. Pumping for 32 years and Garvey's new billion dollar pipelines have sinned too. Farmers like McAdamia, Grover, Henry, Christianson are calling it a free ride for the big players while locals foot the bill. Central claims they cover their weir costs through sunwater deals upstream and GAWB insists they pull water before the barrage even factors in.

1:03Sunwater backs that up, saying releases from state-owned weirs, keep everything flowing for everyone downstream, barrage or not. But irrigators argue it's still benefiting these giants directly. A big meeting's going down today in Rock Hampton with irrigators, sunwater, GAWB, stand-well, the council and state reps the hash out these old. Central deals. Local leaders are optimistic about finding a fair fix for farmers, ratepayers and the whole region.