PREMIER Peter Beattie has used psychological warfare on the people of the Mary Valley and the casualties are mounting.

Anti-dam campaigner Kevin lngersole is at the frontline of this battlefield, where he said the people of the Mary Valley and surrounding region had been subjected to classic strong-arm tactics. “Until it happens to you, it is impossible to understand how utterly disempowering and frustrating it is to have big government insist that it is going to dispossess you of your hard-earned property,” the semi-retired company strategist said.

He said the Government’s tactics included:

• Surprise announcements;

• Iron fist approach

• Misleading information and withheld documentation;

• Continual badgering;

• The breaking of important promises; and

• The division of the valley support base — divide and conquer.

“In the three months’ since the Beattie Govermnent announced that it would dam the Mary River, its officers have inflicted many of these behaviours on the residents of the Mary Valley and surrounding region. While in general the fighting spirit of the community is still intact, the relentless push to go forward with the flawed Traveston Crossing Dam proposal, sadly, is taking its toll,” he said.

The campaign against the Mary Valley was particularly threatening because it was created by a politician’s knee-jerk reaction to a crisis brought on by his “appalling lack of planning”. “Leaks from credible sources indicated that Premier Beattie’s decision to build a dam at Traveston Crossing was a decision that he alone took and at very short notice. “He chose this site when it became clear that Brisbane was likely to run out of water by the end of 2008 unless normal seasonal rainfall patterns returned.”

Mr Ingersole said the action group had not received requested documentation of the project despite promises from the Premier that he would “facilitate ongoing access to studies, analyses, and results throughout the program”. “Specifically, our request was for access to the DNRM&W recommendation and supporting documents that the government took into account when making a decision to build a dam at Traveston Crossing. It is telling that Queenslanders have yet to see from Government, a concise one-page plan of the quickest and lowest cost options that deliver a reliable supply of water. Nor have we seen any plans that match controlled population growth to realistically available and affordable water, health and road~ infrastructure. Will we ever see such plans from this government or will we continue to be subjected to a philosophy of ‘when they come we will think about building it’?”

“The Beattie Government’s response pointed to a number of publicly available documents but importantly, stated that documents it would not make available were those that are Commercial-in-confidence or Cabinet-in-confidence. One can only assume that if in fact any such recommendation from DNRM&W existed it would have been held back on the excuse that it was an in-confidence,” Mr Ingersole said.

“Since there are widespread significant doubts that the dam would be viable given the scope and scale of the unsolved engineering problems, and the enormous costs that would be incurred to build the dam let alone operate it, if any such recommendation exists, and we very much doubt that it does, it is understandable that the Premier would be very reluctant to make it public.”

Mr lngersole urged Premier Beattie to heed the advice of Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Murray Gleeson, who said recently:

“Good governance, in a rights-conscious community, requires that executive decisions be made with due attention to public acceptance of the process of decision making”. Justice Gleeson warned that the public now demanded a rational and fair use of power by governments and said politicians could no longer explain away their actions withoutjustifiying them.

The Mary Valley community at large is sick and tired of the Premier’s glib simplifications of how he is going to rectify the problems that have been caused by his Government’s sloppy and lazy planning — eight years of neglect, Mr Ingersole said.

He said that statements like “I can’t make it rain and I don’t create droughts and I don’t drag 1500 people here every week” does not diminish the Premier’s accountability for landing Queenslanders in the water crisis.

“It’s time for a change of attitude or a change of government!” he claimed.

“The residents of the Mary Valley and surrounding regions have had a gut full of bullying by big Government. “Premier Beattie is using his numbers in Parliament to get his own way without community consultation and that is an absolute abuse of power.”

The following table details the Government actions in connection with the plan to build a dam at Traveston Crossing and a view of the behaviours driving those actions. Mr lngersole said it was a disgraceful record and one that hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders would remember for a long, long time. For a man who achieved some good things for Queensland in his early years in government it may well herald a sad end to a public career.”

Take them by surprise – no discussion or consultation

Without prior notice, the Premier flew to Gympie airport on 27 April for a media briefing where he announced the intention to build a dam at Traveston Crossing. This was the first time that a possibility of a dam at the site had been flagged. Most of the affected residents learned of the proposal on TV that night. No logical explanation as to why this site was chosen was provided. To this day the detailed consultation recommendations together with supporting facts and data have still not been made available despite repeated requests.

Take them by surprise

When the election was called property valuations and contract completions were called off while government went into Caretaker Mode. This caused major grief for many who had committed to replacement properties.

Use The Iron Fist

The Premier stated that there was no way community action would prevent the building of the dam

Residents were told that the dam was needed to provide water for the future population of SEQ. They would be required to sacrifice for the greater good; inflicting social dislocation and emotional damage.

Do whatever it takes

Premier quoted as saying that the dam will be built “even if it’s not feasible”. Beattie government philosophy is that a promise made before an election will be kept no matter what has been discovered after that promise has been made. Dean Wells comments re the building of Paradise Dam. A very scary attitude!

Beattie has a Vision without a Plan — poor infrastructure planning and delivery, leaks from credible sources indicate he is now in crisis mode but won’t publicly admit that the dam is a mistake.

Uncontrolled growth is driving the need for panic choices on infrastructure and consequently insufficient attention is being paid to the social environmental and economic aspects of decisions. And the community clearly sees this.

Mislead or Inform

Mention of “strategic reserve” in Mary Basin Draft Water Resource Plan. Consultative Committee representatives never believed that this was more than the potential raising of Borumba plus a weir. On July 24, members of Community Reference Panel established as part of the process unanimously agreed to formally advise the Government that they had been profoundly deceived during the formulation of the plan in relation to the Traveston Crossing Dam.

On May 25 the Minister and the Deputy Director of NRM&W, Scott Spencer, both denied that there was a report that provided the details as to why Traveston Crossing had been selected, or that there were costings that supported the selection of the site. It was later learned that the GHD report dated May 2005 in fact existed and contained the information.

Govt claimed that the only showstopper would be lack of bedrock for the foundations of the dam wall - it has subsequently been discovered that there is a lack of appropriate bedrock and that alternative difficult and very expensive approaches are required.

At the Gympie meeting on July 5, again insufficient details were provided. Beattie said that initially the dam would be built to stage 1 however he conveniently forgot to mention that the wall would be built to full height immediately but the dam would only be filled to 71 m level, not 79.5.

Mislead & Misinform

The maps provided by the government have been inaccurate and misleading. The whole of the maps release process has been a disaster as substantial numbers of people cannot work out if their properties will be affected. To this date, the government cannot provide details of properties required around the fringe areas. Maps are still not available. The impact of flooding upstream of the dam is enormous — Government proposes to put “dykes” around the townships of Kandanga and Imbil.

The dam was roped in with emergency water issues in recent legislation designed to deal with the current SEQ water crisis — despite the fact that the dam cannot possibly contribute to the solving of the inform current crisis.

In May 25 meeting with the Minister, in response to a question asked about the possibility of invoking of emergency powers to fast track the building of the dam community representatives were advised that this would not happen. But it has happened!

Withhold important Information

QWI Pty Ltd is a private company that will conduct studies, and build and operate the dam. (Who are the shareholders and directors? Where do they fit in?)

The Government set up the Amison taskforce to provide information to the community but the government refuses to provide the important information that will assist the community action group important consultants in analysing the effectiveness of the proposal and its impacts on the basis that it is “Cabinet information Confidential”.

DNRM&W Community Briefings in June/July were characterised by lots of hype, intimidation, inability to answer many of the basic questions and broken commitments to get back to the community with answers.

Despite clearly demonstrated substantial opposition to the dam from Sunshine Coast and surrounding the government persists with the proposal without being prepared to table the recommendation that demonstrated that Traveston Crossing was considered to be the most appropriate option.

Many properties not actually in the dam flood or buffer area will be lost to their owners as access will not be available due to roads being cut by the water level. No information is available so people have to try to figure this out for themselves.

Flooding studies not completed - a potential high risk for landholders in stage 2 and the buffer zone exists

Details of any buy back option as requested by the community have still not been provided — why?

Keep hammering them

Substantial TV advertising paid for by taxpayers “we are building two new dams”, not “we propose to build two new dams”

Governments relentless barrage of media grabs stating the dam will be built – only one of which pointed out that prior approvals must firstly be obtained from the Federal Government under the EPBC Act.

Different solutions to the water crisis are suggested by government every few days. Eg tank rebates, grey water legislation, recycling, pipelines, but still the Traveston Crossing dam will be included them in the mix despite the substantial reduction in available yield and the major blow outs in cost.

Brisbane public forum on water — lots of time on talking at the people rather than listening to them. Few questions allowed to be asked.

Break important promises

Residents are being offered “fair market value” plus a small relocation package. Despite requests at community meetings for a like for like replacement — no action has been taken. The fact is that these promises properties will be difficult to replace and if possible to replace will be at a cost well in excess of the prices being offered.

Despite requests via the Arnison Task Force, the information promised by Beattie has still not been provided.

Seek to divide and conquer

Seductive sell and lease back scheme is designed to weaken peoples resolve to hang on to their properties and will endanger and divide communities as social groups and friendships are demolished.

For further reading 

Dam stress, panic attacks, anxiety and suicide fears