The Grantham Floods Commission of Inquiry has found that a local quarry played no role in the deaths of 12 people during the 2011 Queensland floods.
Commissioner Walter Soffronoff QC has delivered his report into the flood, saying the controversial man-made quarry, which angry locals blamed for exacerbating the damage on the small Lockyer Valley town, had a minimal impact.
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"I found the quarry did not play in role in the flood," he said on Thursday.
"A minimal, insignificant role in that there was a pit which was not completely full of water but was partly full of water, so for a short time when the water came over the top of an embankment it went into the pit rather than down towards Grantham.
"So for a very insignificant amount of time it slowed the flow but that's a matter of detail, not nothing substantial."
Devastation in the town of Grantham in the Lockyer Valley. (AAP) Source: AAP
In handing his final report to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Mr Sofronoff said locals needed a chance to tell their stories but quarry owner Denis Wagner wasn't to blame for contributing to the disaster on January 10, 2011.
"I think they (the Wagner family) were unjustly blamed by some people and I think they were viciously blamed by some elements of the media," he said.
The inquiry, the second to look into the devastating 2011 flood event following the broad Queensland Floods Inquiry concluded in 2012, cost $2.5 million.
Ms Palaszczuk stood by initiating the inquiry after coming into government early this year.
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"I believe that this was such a significant issue," she said.
"We're dealing with people, we're dealing with families and these families needed answers.
"And they were able to tell their stories and to seek the truth through this commission of inquiry."
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