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| Wivenhoe Dam as surging floodwaters are released. |
WATER fat cats in charge during last year's devastating floods retain their lucrative jobs, dodging blame for dam mismanagement as well as an alleged cover-up under their watch.
As the fallout begins from Friday's flood inquiry report, it can also be revealed that three engineers referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission will have to repay legal fees if they are convicted of any offence.
Without their mismanagement, there could have been "at least some improvement" in the flooding that inundated thousands of homes and businesses in Brisbane and Ipswich, the inquiry found.
While the flood engineers bore the brunt of the blame, the hierarchy of top executives running the state's water infrastructure is almost unchanged.
Dam operator Seqwater's chief executive, Peter Borrows - who received an $80,000 pay rise after the floods to take his annual salary package to $500,000 - remains in charge.
Mr Borrows declined to comment yesterday on whether he accepted any responsibility or should stand down, with Seqwater providing no response to the inquiry's report for a second day.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn said it expected the CMC to conduct a broader examination of Seqwater during investigations into the three flood engineers.
"When you have monumental failures of this type it is uncommon for those failures to simply be the product of one individual or a small group of individuals," partner Rod Hodgson said.
"They often reflect systemic competency or culture problems within organisations."
Final submissions on behalf of flood victims are understood to have questioned how a culture could have developed in Seqwater that could have allowed the dam manual to be disregarded.
There were also concerns over why there hadn't been improvements to the dam manual, heavily criticised by Justice Holmes.
SEQ Water Grid Manager's chief executive, Barry Dennien, and the Department of Environment and Management's dam safety director Peter Allen also retain their roles.
Premier Anna Bligh said the inquiry did not recommend action against executives. Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman said he would merge water bodies if elected.
The State Government must also decide whether to continue to provide legal assistance to dam engineers Robert Ayre, John Tibaldi and John Malone, who have been referred to the CMC.
Public servants can be assisted during an investigation only if they "diligently and conscientiously endeavoured" to carry out their duties, guidelines state.
Ms Bligh said Seqwater continued to approve legal assistance but "reimbursement would be required if an individual is convicted of a criminal offence".
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