Dreamworld disaster: parent company Ardent Leisure fined $ 3.6 million for tragedy

Dreamworld’s parent company, Ardent Leisure, has been fined $ 3.6 million for the 2016 Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy that claimed four lives, including a New Zealander.

Southport Magistrate Pam Dowse said the company failed in its primary safety duty to the public.

New Zealander Cindy Low died, along with Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and her partner Roozi Araghi, after a water pump failed.

Ardent Leisure previously pleaded guilty to failing to comply with health and safety legislation and exposing people to a risk of serious injury or death.

Today’s sanction has been met with angry reactions.

ABC commentator and journalist Patricia Karvelas, a friend of two of the victims, took to social media to express her disgust at the sentence for being too light.

“Is this the penalty for the death of my friends? What a dark day #dreamworld,” he said on Twitter.

During the sentencing hearing, Goodchild’s mother, Kim Dorsett, said that she was now living her life as if she were on a spin cycle in a washing machine.

“A broken heart has no words,” he said.

Judge Dowse said Ardent Leisure had a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all workers and individuals affected by its work at the theme park.

“They (Ardent Leisure) operated the most iconic amusement park in the country, which targeted and attracted families,” he said.

“All of the guests who rode the Thunder River Rapids Ride placed total and blind trust in the defendant.

“These guests were extremely vulnerable.”

The company has only one month to pay the fine.

The Queensland occupational health and safety prosecutor filed three charges against the company on July 21, five months after the coroner released his findings on the tragedy.

Each charge carried a maximum fine of $ 1.5 million.

Judge Dowse said the penalties were “indicative of the seriousness” of the charges.

“In this case, the possible consequences of the risk are and were catastrophic. Measures were available to reduce, minimize or eliminate the risk, and the measures were not so complex or burdensome and only slightly inconvenient and really inexpensive,” he said.

“The defendant continued to rely heavily on busy tour operators to identify, assess and respond to any potential safety issues, such as the pump failure.

“The operators … were not necessarily equipped with the proper training (security response).”