26 October 2016 | It is meant to be one of the happiest places in Australia - a place where all the family can come together for fun, laughter and rides that thrill. But Dreamworld is waking to a nightmare this morning. Four people dead - with reports one of them is a New Zealander.
Dreamworld's parent company Ardent Leisure has been fined $3.6 million over 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 his partner Roozi Araghi - after a water pump malfunctioned.
Ardent Leisure earlier pleaded guilty to failing to comply with health and safety legislation, and exposing individuals to a risk of serious injury or death.
Today's penalty has been met with angry reactions.
Commentator and ABC 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.
"This is the penalty for the death of my friends? What a dark day #dreamworld," she said on Twitter.
During the sentencing hearing, Goodchild's mum Kim Dorsett said she now lived her life as if she was on a spin cycle in a washing machine.
Magistrate Dowse said Ardent Leisure had a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all workers and those people affected by their work at the theme park.
"They (Ardent Leisure) operated the most iconic amusement park in the country, which targeted and attracted families," she said.
"There was complete and blind trust placed in the defendant by every guest who rode the Thunder River Rapids Ride.
"These guests were extremely vulnerable."
The company has just one month to pay the fine.
Dreamworld's parent company Ardent Leisure has been fined $3.6 million over the 2016 Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy. Photo / Supplied
Queensland's work health and safety prosecutor filed three charges against the company on July 21, five months after the coroner handed down his findings into the tragedy.
Each charge carried a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.
Magistrate Dowse said the penalties were "indicative of the seriousness" of the charges.
"In this instance, the potential consequences of the risk are and were catastrophic. Steps were available to lessen, minimise or remove risk, and steps were not that complex or burdensome and only mildly inconvenient and really were inexpensive," she said.
"The defendant continued to place considerable reliance on busy ride operators to identify, assess and respond to any potential safety issues, such as the pump failure.
"Operators were ... not necessarily prepared with the appropriate (safety response) training."
