By Johanna Marie,Tayla Larsen
Copyright abc
More than 53 hectares of bushland and riverine habitat will be cleared for a major upgrade to a regional Queensland dam, sparking concerns from environmentalists about protected lungfish and turtles.
Construction on the new Paradise Dam is set to go forward as Sunwater completes major road upgrades and access to the site on the Burnett River about 80 kilometres south-west of Bundaberg.
The upgraded road network includes a widening of crests, bitumen resurfacing and a new 57-metre dual-lane bridge at Degilbo Creek, which Burnett MP Stephen Bennett says will support the delivery of the project.
“This is a complex, multi-year project and construction will require significant heavy-vehicle use to transport equipment and materials to and from the dam,” he said.
The $4.4-billion rebuild was triggered in 2024 after Sunwater revealed the existing dam’s serious structural problems could not be fixed and that a new dam wall would be built about 90m downstream from the failing structure.
Geotechnical investigations are now underway to confirm the foundation conditions for the new wall, as well as trials on the concrete mix for the future build.
The detailed business case for the project is expected to be completed early in 2026.
Wildlife worries
The Wide Bay Burnett Environment Council (WBBEC) has raised concerns about the impact on the white-throated snapping turtle as well as the Australian lungfish, which is listed as vulnerable due to its declining population and loss of habitat.
“If you’ve got a 36-metre dam wall across the river — you’re going to have to have impacts on the species,” president Roger Currie said.
“Governments don’t worry about the impact … they just simply want the project created and … worry about the impacts later on.”
In August the Paradise Dam was deemed a coordinated project with the aim of streamlining the approval and consultation processes.
“It enables the coordinator-general to facilitate environmental approvals to meet Queensland and Australian government requirements,” a spokesperson for the state’s coordinator-general said.
Sunwater chief executive Glenn Stockton said the move had made the path forward clearer.
“That sets us with an environmental approvals pathway, which is really important,” he said.
“Our preliminary design and planning indicate the construction footprint of about 53 hectares.”
Mitigation measures
Mr Stockton said Sunwater had already identified the potential impact on some species.
“As we work our way through there will be detailed plans about how we may mitigate or manage those,” he said.
“That is a really important part of the process today.”
The existing dam wall features a “bucket system” to assist fish over the structure to move upstream.
Mr Stockton said that was one technique being considered for the new project.
“The design process will have to engage experts in how we manage and effectively support the fish upstream and downstream,” he said.
Sunwater has been surveying flora and fauna across the affected area and said the information would be provided to the coordinator-general for consideration.
There would also be an offset requirement for Sunwater to establish an equivalent habitat elsewhere to compensate for the loss of native vegetation and biodiversity.
