Bligh acknowledges class action threat

Premier Anna Bligh has acknowledged the flood commission’s final report exposes the Queensland government to an enormous damages claim.

The inquiry’s final report, released on Friday, found Wivenhoe dam engineers breached its operating manual in the lead up to devastating floods in Brisbane and Ipswich last year.

Lawyers have said any breach of the manual could be grounds for a class action against the government, as the operator of the dam.

Ms Bligh acknowledged the legal threat but said a breach of the dam’s manual did not prove Seqwater, the government-owned operator of the dam, was liable for damage to thousands of homes and businesses.

“It opens the possibility of legal action but it does not, of itself, establish liability,” she told reporters after receiving the report.

In her final report, Commissioner Justice Catherine Holmes said the corruption watchdog should investigate three engineers who were in charge of Wivenhoe dam in the lead-up to the floods.

She said the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) should consider whether Terry Malone, John Tibaldi and Robert Ayre misled the inquiry in oral and written testimony.

The watchdog should be looking for evidence of criminal or misconduct offences, she said.

Ms Bligh later said she had already referred the matter to the CMC.

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