He said, she said emerges over $190,000 for grower input on Lakeland irrigation plan

A war of words has emerged over whether the perspective of local growers was sought in the development of the detailed business case for the proposed Lakeland Irrigation Area Scheme (LIAS).

Regional Development Australia (RDA) Tropical North released the business case for the $1.6 billion project in May 2024 after what it says was intensive stakeholder engagement, including with Lakeland growers, however, Cook MP David Kempton says he has had to find $190,000 to help fund producer consultation after they were “denied” the opportunity to do so during the process.

The $190,000 was promised to the Lakeland Progress Association (LPA) prior to the state election in October and Mr Kempton met with members of the group’s water committee on 27 March to discuss how the funding would be used to canvas grower sentiment.

“I met with the LPA and they have a water committee set up, and the meeting on [27 March] was very positive,” he said.

“We are now working on a terms of reference for the funding that will go to the LPA.

“The funding will allow the LPA to provide a detailed response to the business case, an opportunity that was denied them by the proponent of the business case at the time, RDATN.”

RDA Tropical North chief executive officer Sonja Johnson refuted the Cook MP’s claims and said she believed Lakeland growers had been appropriately consulted, adding Mr Kempton was directly involved with the process.

“The Member for Cook was the RDA Tropical North chair and chair of the project’s reference group until after the draft detailed business case was submitted, so [he] was involved in all grower engagement up to that point,” she said.

“Input from Lakeland growers was primarily through the reference group, which was chaired by the Member for Cook and included two growers’ representatives; this group met on 12 separate occasions since 2020.

“The growers provided a letter of support for the project, which was attached to the RDATN submission as part of the final detailed business case.”

Cape York Weekly has seen the letter, dated 28 March 2023, which includes signatures from 33 Lakeland stakeholders “representing a range of growers, irrigators, graziers and rural landholders”.

“We, the signed members from Lakeland’s agricultural industries, wish to extend our in-principle support for the Lakeland Irrigation Area Scheme,” the letter reads.

Mr Kempton said he was feeling “quite positive” about the LIAS, adding he believed the ambitious project had the potential to deliver untold economic diversity for Cape York.

“The Lakeland irrigation scheme can be a catalyst for development like we’ve never seen before,” he said.

“I’m in discussions with the federal candidate (Leichhardt LNP candidate Jeremy Neal) to look toward federal funding for the project.

“There’s a lot of factors in the Cape at the moment; we’ve got Rio [Tinto] pulling away from Weipa, so we’ve got that whole Weipa issue to deal with; we have the potential for economic growth, and I think this water at Lakeland is the catalyst for this … and to get the PDR (Peninsula Developmental Road) finished.”

Mr Kempton said a review of the Mitchell water plan was under way as a “critical component” of the future of the LIAS.

A spokesperson for the LPA said the group was “scoping the possibilities” of how to best utilise the $190,000 for grower consultation, and that members believed “effective” grower input would be critical to the project getting the green light.

“Growers and the regional authority were denied effective input to the [detailed business case] by RDATN,” the spokesperson said.

“Neither the state or federal government adopted the [detailed business case]; no approvals or funding [are] possible without growers’ effective input.”