In 2011, Michelle Landry and I visited the banks of the Fitzroy River near Gogango west of Rockhampton. We were not even in Parliament yet but we were already working on the long touted Rookwood Weir.
We had morning tea with the locals on the sandy banks of the Fitzroy and dreamed of how a weir at this spot could revolutionise Central Queensland. While one of our cars got bogged trying to get out, nothing could stop our determination to see this project happen.
There were many naysayers over the years. Some said it was too small. The Labor party for years said it would be a waste of money and there wasn’t the demand for the water in the region. We pushed on and after years of campaigning we got the support of the then LNP Government to invest $130 million in the project.
It took a few more years to get the Queensland Government on board, including a spirited discussion between Malcolm Turnbull, Barnaby Joyce, Annastacia Palaszcuk and myself in Hobart at a Council of Australian Governments meeting. Finally, we got there with the Labor party committing their share of the funding.
It took a few more years of cost blowouts and redesigns but finally the Rookwood Weir finished construction in November last year. It is the biggest weir built in Australia since World War II.
About a month later and after good rains, at 4am on 27 December 2023, the weir was full. It has been spilling every day since. The sandy bank we were bogged on 13 years ago is now submerged. The water in the weir backs up an amazing 60 amazing kilometres opening up a huge amount of country for agricultural production.
And that is the point of the whole project. We were not investing to build a lake, we were investing to expand farming jobs in Central Queensland.
Despite being told for years that there was not an economic case for the water, all of the water rights from Rookwood have been taken up by farmers keen to expand production. Even before the weir was complete, large macadamia producers had entered and begun planting trees.
Michelle and I visited one of these farms this week. Hundreds of hectares have already been planted with thousands more coming in the years to come as water is delivered from the weir to support expanded production. This company’s project alone will see the planting of more than 300,000 macadamia trees.
Their farms will eventually employ 60 people and support a new horticultural industry in Rockhampton. At the moment, macadamias are going to Bundaberg for processing but as production expands a new plant will need to be built. Although no decision has been made yet, Rockhampton is in the box seat to host a new factory. That will employ around 160 people.
There are also plans for a feedlot and other agricultural production in the region. Over 20 smaller farmers have also bought water from the weir.
This new agricultural industry will bring benefits beyond just the areas around Gogango as new skills and equipment will expand production all around Central Queensland.
Next week we celebrate the amazing cattle industry at Beef Week. We host Beef Week because Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia. With the amazing water and soils we have on the Fitzroy there is no reason we can’t be our nation’s food capital too.
