This is a prime example of the old adage that nobody’s life liberty or property is safe while parliament is sitting. While property rights are generally secure from private encroachment, they have no security when the government invokes “the common good.” It seems incredible to me that in the long run the destruction of the Mary Valley was only averted due to the presence of some fish, turtles and frogs etc. I am not in any way attempting to denigrate those who led the campaign on these issues, indeed we would all be poorer for the extinction of these species, and these people promoted the issue that saved the day. Congratulations to them on that. It is shocking though that the enormous economic costs, social disruption, waste of resources, incredible stupidity of the concept, and the crushing psychological burden to the victims of this outrage, counted for nothing. Right up to the announcement of the decision the Premier was waging psychological warfare on landholders attempting to force them to sell.

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Updated on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 02:24PM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 05:16AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 01:38PM by stevem

YEARS back I had to go to San Francisco to learn that the famous sea lions in the bay smell worse than week-old sardines and that the Australian lungfish is about as exciting as Kevin Rudd. A murky tank at the California Academy of Sciences has been home to Methuselah the lungfish since 1938 and I presume he is still going strong, although I am yet to receive confirmation from the Ichthyology Department. But if he’s still on duty, I hope they treat him with the respect due to a creature that can demolish a $1.2 billion dam.

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Campaigners who have successfully stopped the construction of the proposed Traveston Crossing dam were today calling on the Premier to “stop the scaremongering” over the price of water in the wake of Minister Garrett’s decision regarding the proposed dam. “We are responding to the repeated claims by the Premier that now that the Traveston Crossing dam has been knocked back by Garrett, water prices will have to go up in Brisbane,” said Glenda Pickersgill, president of the Save the Mary River Coordinating Group. “The independent assessment Minister Garrett commissioned found the economic analysis used to justify the failed Traveston Crossing dam to be seriously flawed. This report vindicates criticisms that we, and many other groups have made over the last three and a half years.” “Are they using the same flawed economic analysis to support the statements made last week about the increase in water costs? - asked Ms Pickersgill. “The figures suggested by Minister Robertson last week certainly don’t stack up in our view and we are very concerned that the Premier is making the same mistakes all over again.” “If prices go up, the numbers show it would be no fault of Minister Garrett but the fault of the Queensland Government for their dogmatic approach to water management, their consistent economic bungling and repeated cost blowouts in their water infrastructure projects.” The Coordinator General himself admitted in his report on the Traveston Crossing dam proposal, that even with the highest population growth predicted only 20 billion litres more water would be needed in South East Queensland by 2026.

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Updated on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 08:34AM by stevem

While the Queensland Government kept screaming that the Traveston Crossing Dam was all about water, Environment Minister Peter Garrett was looking at the threatened animals. The Queensland lungfish, the Mary River turtle, the Mary River cod, Coxen’s fig parrot and the Giant Barred Frog. And that was where Wednesday’s decision was made. And Premier Anna Bligh should not have been surprised. Despite her insistence the Traveston Crossing Dam was all about securing water for South East Queensland, that was not Environment Minister Peter Garrett’s job. That was the Queensland Government’s job, and their choice of dam site threatened five species. Mr Garrett had to rule on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999), not on any state or federal water supply legislation.

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The Traveston dam decision has bolstered Kevin Rudd’s “green” credentials ahead of a federal election likely to be dominated by environmental issues. But things aren’t looking so rosy for Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

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Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 09:12AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 09:17AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 09:19AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 09:25AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 09:32AM by stevem

TRAVESTON is likely to become a word synonymous with government ineptitude and poor planning in Queensland. In terms of best practice when it comes to delivering the infrastructure needs of a large and rapidly growing state, Traveston is a place name that is not far removed from another word, travesty. For the Traveston dam project was born in a climate of panic and political desperation. It was a rushed decision taken by the then Beattie government in a climate in which southeast Queensland faced the very real prospect of running out of potable water. Years of inertia by successive governments had left our water supply perilously vulnerable to the inevitable drought that arrived with severe and unforgiving persistence. Traveston has also left the Beattie and Bligh governments exposed to allegations of gross mismanagement when it came to tackling the crisis, let alone prudently planning for such eventualities.

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Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08:10AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08:44AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08:47AM by stevem

Updated on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 08:55AM by stevem

“REMEMBRANCE Day 2009 will be remembered for a long long time.” With those words, Alex Somlyay, whose Fairfax federal electorate once included Gympie, promised he would remember forever the integrity and moral courage of his political foe, Labor Environment Minister Peter Garrett. While Queensland Premier Anna Bligh remained a major exception, Mr Somlyay and Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce were among the first to respond to Mr Garrett’s “No Dam” announcement, expressing within minutes their open admiration for Mr Garrett. Sen Joyce went further, saying Ms Bligh now has no choice but to step down as Premier and explain “why she pursued with such venom something so destructive and which would not have worked at all.”

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Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 01:23PM by stevem

Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 01:36PM by stevem

Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 03:27PM by stevem

Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 06:25PM by stevem

FEDERAL Environment Minister Peter Garrett has rejected the proposed Traveston Crossing dam near Gympie.

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Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:24AM by stevem

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett will announce the government’s decision on Queensland’s controversial Traveston Crossing Dam on Wednesday afternoon. Mr Garrett has called a press conference in Brisbane at 1pm (AEST) to announce whether the billion-dollar plan to dam the Mary River in southeast Queensland will go ahead.

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Updated on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 11:25PM by stevem

Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 12:12AM by stevem

Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 07:02AM by stevem

Updated on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 07:04AM by stevem

Peter Garrett is expected to reveal the fate of the Traveston Crossing Dam tomorrow and end a three-year waiting game for anguished residents. In a move ahead of his deadline, the Federal Environment Minister is set to fly to Brisbane to explain to Queenslanders how he made his decision. Residents in and near Mary Valley now have only hours before they learn their fate after a protracted battle with the Bligh and Beattie governments. Speculation is rife Mr Garrett will approve the dam, but with significant conditions imposed.

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