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| Seqwater has spent millions defending its operation of Wivenhoe Dam during Brisbane's devastating floods. |
SEQWATER has cost taxpayers more than $7 million in legal fees since the 2011 floods, with two-thirds of that - nearly $5 million - going to the law firm that represented the dam operator at the floods inquiry.
Queenslanders are also footing a $7 million annual insurance bill for the company, double the pre-flood cost.
Financial records - obtained by The Courier-Mail using Right to Information laws - show law firm Allens Arthur Robinson charged Seqwater a total of $4.8 million between January 2011 and April 2012, with $1.5 million of that billed after the inquiry reconvened in February.
A spokesman for the dam operator said it had paid Allens a total of $4.2 million for flood inquiry advice and $500,000 for other work. The law firm declined to comment.
Allens' website says: "Our recent roles include acting for Seqwater, the owner and operator of the Wivenhoe and Somerset dams in Queensland, in the Queensland Flood Commission where it has assisted the Commission in understanding the key decisions taken during the major flood event in January 2011".
Seqwater also has used a panel of law firms for other legal advice since January 2011, at a cost of $2.3 million. The firms include McCullough Robertson, Minter Ellison and Clayton Utz. McCullough Robertson also represented Seqwater's parent, the Water Grid Manager, at the floods inquiry.
The new LNP Government is cracking down on spending on professional advisers such as lawyers and accountants and this has already caused firms to cut jobs.
"They're looking for value," said one senior Brisbane lawyer. "They're sending a message that they're not going to defend positions just to say a public servant was right."
Allens was criticised by a Federal Court judge last year about costs after it tried to bill $10,000 a day for the services of Walter Sofranoff, QC, the Queensland Solicitor-General.
The documents show Seqwater's insurance costs have more than doubled to $7.1 million in the year since the floods.
There was also a single premium of $1.2 million paid to reinsurer Aon.
Seqwater blamed the rise on "general market increase in insurance rates and an increase in our premiums due to the January 2011 flood".
Seqwater also had to expand its cover after taking over the Tugun desalination plant, the Western Corridor recycled water pipeline and Wyaralong Dam and on completion of the Hinze Dam upgrade.
Seqwater is to be merged into a super-supplier to honour a Newman Government election pledge to cut consumers' water bills by $80.
www.CourierMail.com.au
29.6.12
