A major project set to create 172 full-time jobs for wider Charters Towers community has been stalled once more under this week's unveiled Federal Budget 2024.
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Mayor Liz Schmidt said the government's deferral of the project was a "double disappointment" as her team continued to struggle to with the state government and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
"We're not only struggling to get through the intricacies of the (Environmental Impact Statement) but now funding has been put aside for goodness knows how long," she said.
"Sadly, we thought it was a certainty. (Big Rocks Weir) was the only thing left after Hell's Gate was shelved and now we're struggling again to find certainty for the community around this weir. It's been a long process."
Under the budget's infrastructure allocation, $592.3 million was allocated to the Paradise Dam Improvement project over five years, but the Big Rocks Weir project and the Hughenden Irrigation Scheme were both deferred.
Discussing the upcoming projects set to revitalise the region prior to her appointment as Charters Towers mayor earlier this year, Ms Schmidt had outlined the Big Rocks Weir as one of the projects her council had started during her prior term (2016-2020) and one expected to provide job opportunities and growth for her community.
"We've all lost a bit of faith recently where it has come down to the hands of politicians and bureaucrats for the economic future of our community. We've been seriously let down," she said.
"I came back into this role after four years expecting some progress but devastatingly, common sense hasn't ruled in our favour.
"We can lobby until we're blue in the face but we tend to not be heard. I reached out to the state minister in regards to DAF and the environmental side of things and there's still no answer from him as well.
"I'm disillusioned from all levels of government. We've been hung out to dry as a local government for trying to get something done...not just for us but for the community."
Ms Schmidt said the Environmental Impact Statement, which is still being drafted by the proponent, was in the works during her term as mayor.
"The conversation has been going on for at least four years," she said.
"They said we'd need a fish ladder, which would cost four times the amount of the actual weir and they put all the research into that to say not to worry about it as it's not reasonable and they were looking at an EIS across the weir and the Burdekin upwards - in excess of 400m.
"It's been completely and absolutely disgraceful."
The estimated $90 million project, proposed for construction at Big Rocks on the Burdekin River, approximately 26km north of Charters Towers and 24km upstream of the existing Charters Towers Weir is expected to have a capacity of 10,000 megalitres and stand 13m high.
According to Charters Towers Regional Council, the Big Rocks Weir would provide additional water storage in the region and the subsequent water supply security would "change the nature of what the Big Rocks farming community" could grow and when they could grow.
The weir, jointly funded by state and federal governments, would also deliver an economic boost to the region, This will deliver an economic boost to the region.
The set back was another blow for local politicians and farmers who had expressed concern about seeing the Burdekin Weir drying up in drier months and the subsequent impact on cattle.
Last May, former mayor Frank Beveridge had called on the state and federal government to commence construction in the proceeding 12 months, despite funding for the North Queensland Water Infrastructure Authority being scrapped from the 2023 Federal Budget.
The budget outlined that $2.2bn had been allocated to enhancing "connectivity" and increasing "accessibility and reliability of south east Queensland transport networks".
The concrete weir was cited to have an associated fish-way structure to maintain fish passage, saddle dam and stilling basin as part of its features.
From the 2024 budget, a total infrastructure contribution of $21.6bn for Queensland showed $1.2bn had been allocated to the Sunshine Coast Rail Line and $467m for the Bruce Hwy corridor.
The National Water Grid would also receive $174m over six years for new water infrastructure projects.
"What a joke. This package is beyond disappointing, it includes nothing 'nation building,' nothing that will generate economic growth, nothing that will create more than a few jobs," Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter said in a statement on May 14.
"In Kennedy, public transport is almost non-existent. We have some of the worse roads in Australia.
"The only access to the land west of the diving range and literally crumbling. Budget after budget we see more money siphoned from the regions and given to the cities for grandiose white-elephant projects."
The construction start date of the weir was set for 2026.
On November 24 2023, the coordinator-general, Gerard Coggan, stated a new project declaration lapse date of January 9 2026, after previously giving a lapse date of January 9 2024 in December 2022.
