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Rivers of Opportunity Lost – Measure Water Properly, Build Dams, Develop North Queensland: Katter
February 5, 2026
The latest floods have again shown that the ‘data’ used by the bureaucrats in Brisbane for all things water is farcical, or terribly inaccurate at best, The Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader, and Member for Traeger has said.
Mr Katter has again seen first-hand the vast inland sea that is very slowly making its way north to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
“The Department simply have no idea how much water there is! They’re the same Department who openly say there isn’t enough water to release to farmers,” Mr Katter said.
“The ‘data’ and tools available to the number crunchers only work when rivers are gently flowing, or empty, but most years North Queensland has a flood, some bigger than others, that break the banks and can’t be accurately measured.
“So, the time when there’s the most water, there’s no data!” Mr Katter said.
The Member for Traeger compared the situation to a tropical thunderstorm being recorded as a sun shower.
“If the Bureau reported a tropical storm as a light shower, there would understandably be public outcry!
“So how is there not public outcry at the cruel crippling of North Queensland by a system based on flawed ‘data’?” Mr Katter said.
“Depending on who you ask, estimates and reported annual average flows across the Gulf and North West into the ocean vary, but we can all agree that it is in the multiple millions of megalitres per year.
“Instead of having a ‘can-do’ attitude, successive Queensland governments are listening to the green-tainted say-no Brisbane set, who would really have no concept of the damage they are doing for future generations of Queenslanders.
“I bet if some they were cut off by flood water for three and four months at a time like Doomadgee and Burketown, they might have a different perspective and not trust their computer models so much.
“I’m calling on the Minister to open her eyes when she tours the North this week, and ask, ‘is there really not enough water’?
“It’s time the keyboard and calculator tappers in Brisbane are told their models aren’t bullet-proof and are in fact straight up wrong.
“A pertinent adage when it comes to data and modelling; rubbish in, rubbish out.
“It’s time to live in the real world, not one shaped by rubbish data feeding blinkered computer models,” the KAP Leader said.