The Queensland state energy minister, Mick de Brenni, has told a court hearing he was not made aware of concerns that safety issues at the Callide power station posed a “catastrophic risk” prior to the 2021 unit explosion that caused statewide blackouts.
On the third day of the formal state election campaign, de Brenni fronted the federal court where he was grilled about his knowledge of funding difficulties, maintenance backlogs and safety concerns at the plant, near the town of Biloela in central Queensland.
Asked outside the court if his appearance at the hearing would distract from the government’s election pitch, de Brenni said: “No.”
The public examination is related to the administration of IG Power, a joint-owner of the troubled Callide C power station with CS Energy, a government-owned corporation. CS Energy runs the plant.
De Brenni told the court he only became aware of concerns about maintenance and safety earlier in 2024, when he was handed the Brady review into the 2021 explosion, which documented prior issues including maintenance failures and the concerns of safety staff.
De Brenni told the court he had attended the Callide C site in the days after the explosion and had been given an assurance by Andrew Bills, the former CS Energy chief executive officer, regarding prior maintenance work that “everything that was required to be done had been done”.
The minister told the court he only became aware of concerns raised by a safety staff member during a 2019 exit review when he read about them in the Brady review. The staff member had been a process safety manager who had sought additional funding, which was not forthcoming, he said in court.
The court heard, after resigning in April 2019, the safety review member raised concern about “telltale signs that a process safety incident is quite possible” and warned of “catastrophic risk”. For more than 12 months afterwards, there was no process safety team in place, the court heard.
De Brenni told the court funding difficulties, maintenance backlogs and safety concerns were not raised with him and that he became aware of these matters when he first read the Brady report.
Guardian Australia reported soon after the Callide C explosion that the power plant had broken down eight times in the previous year.
