Queensland’s new premier says work is underway to identify potential sites for a new pumped hydro project

Elation, relief and hope for the community… these are the things Eungella locals expressed after a town hall with Queensland’s new Premier.

David Crisafulli visited the small town, west of Mackay, to confirm he had scrapped the former government’s controversial Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro Project for the area.

It would have been the largest renewable energy project of its kind in the world, but the Prime Minister went into the October elections promising it would no longer go ahead.

“It never did well financially, it never did well environmentally and it didn’t have the consent of the traditional owner,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“More importantly, this community was never treated with the respect they deserved.”

For Save Eungella campaigner Jonelle Neilsen, the visit symbolized the beginning of the healing process for the community.

“It’s been a huge morale booster to have it scrapped,” she said.

“There will be a huge recovery period, many families have moved away, the stress has just become way too much for them… others are still there and still fighting, so we hope we can support them, win back community members, (and get) some new ones too.”

She said the project would have been “catastrophic” if it had gone ahead.

“Loss of farmland, loss of family homes, tourism, who wants to come here and see a mud hole at the bottom of the mountain range,” she said.

“We also have… the well-known Eungella honeyeater, but also 27 endemic species, at least in this area, and then the platypus, the larger gliders, so many migratory birds rely so heavily on this space.”

Local landowner John Sempf said he felt “vindicated” by the project’s cancellation.

“Hydro wanted to scare me out of my property… a lot of people around me sold, but I didn’t want to sell,” he said.

In April, Queensland Hydro purchased land from 57 landowners in the area.

They will now be invited to buy back their land, Mr Crisafulli said.

“That process will be tailored to the individual. It cannot be a blanket approach, otherwise people will fall through the cracks,” he said.

“It is important that they are given every opportunity to get back into their homes and that this is done at a fair rate. If we do that, we can restore the future of this beautiful part of the world.”

Mr Crisafulli said his government has a “laser-like focus” on finding an affordable way to proceed with the former government’s other proposed pumped hydro project, at the Borumba Dam south of Gympie.

“We really believe this can be done in a respectful way for the environment and if we can ensure it is affordable, it can also be a project that Queenslanders can benefit from,” he said.

“The department is also working on other plans for smaller, more manageable hydropower projects, and when that is completed we will be open, honest and transparent with Queenslanders and look at ways in which projects can proceed without communities being treated as doormats. “

The Queensland Conservation Council has raised concerns that the LNP’s proposed alternative sites could be just as damaging to the environment.

It has called on the government to announce the potential locations within 100 days.