Flood inquiry steals spotlight
The commission, headed by Court of Appeal judge Catherine Holmes, called a new round of hearings on the eve of its reporting deadline after fresh claims Wivenhoe Dam engineers mismanaged water releases into Brisbane River in the lead up to the city’s floods.
Four engineers came in for tough questioning during the hastily convened extra hearings amid allegations they provided misleading information about when specific dam release strategies were activated.
The inquiry’s final report, handed to then-premier Anna Bligh just a week before voters went to the polls, suggested the Crime and Misconduct Commission should look at charging three of the engineers over their post-flood claims.
But the CMC would later announce in August it had decided against laying charges, pointing to the badly drafted dam operating manual from which the engineers were working.
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