Updated on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 10:42AM by stevem

A Forty per cent increase in Sydney’s population over the next 20 years means the State Government has no option but to open up scores of suburbs for new developments, according to a radical proposal for Sydney to build 640,000 new dwellings. The Urban Renewal Action Plan compiled by major property companies argues a complete change to the way planning is done is Sydney is essential if the city is to cope with the explosion in population. In a document just provided to the Government, the NSW Property Council says the city is running out of old industrial sites like those in Alexandria and Pyrmont as areas for new housing and Sydney must move to a new, more difficult phase where there is large-scale development close to existing and new transport routes……. …..the Urban Renewal Commission would also have powers to compulsorily acquire land, some of which could be sold to developers for urban renewal projects and part retained for public use. Release of the Property Council’s proposals comes as the Government is preparing to announce a review of the five-year-old Metropolitan Strategy, the main planning document to guide development of the city.

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IN THE shadows of anti-dam celebrations, a Wide Bay conservation group has this week continued its legal challenge to the suitability of a fishway for lungfish at Paradise Dam, north-west of Biggenden. Sunwater is being challenged in the Federal Court by the Wide Bay-Burnett Conservation Council which claims the State Government utility breached Federal Government environmental controls by operating the dam since 2005 without an effective fishway for lungfish.

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FIVE million cubic metres of earth are being shifted to to make way for stage one of the Bruce Highway deviation, north of Cooroy. But the state government claims the big move was not made necessary by planning for the Traveston Crossing Dam. However, as heavy earthmoving equipment continues to dramatically alter once familiar geographic features, that claim has been disputed by residents, politicians and the government’s own documents. Behind Federal State School, a huge hill consisting of one million cubic metres of earth is being reshaped to take a route which would have skirted the dam’s eastern buffer if it had gone ahead. Work on the $613 million, 12km section from Sankeys Road to Traveston Road started in earnest only six weeks before federal environment minister Peter Garrett ruled the dam could not be built.

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The Queensland president of the Australian Water Association (AWA) says the State Government has plenty of water supply options for the south-east. The AWA’s annual Queensland regional conference was held at Coolum, on the Sunshine Coast, at the weekend. Issues discussed included the management, treatment and regulation of water. Last week, Premier Anna Bligh said the construction of two desalination plants would have to be brought forward because the Traveston Crossing dam, near Gympie, had been vetoed. But the AWA’s John Graham says desalination is one of a number of options. “There are plenty of options - there’s recycled water, there’s stormwater recycling, there’s surface water, there’s also desalination but there’s also consumption,” he said. “Certainly changing people’s patterns, that is an important factor.

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THE tears of relief shed over the Mary River’s reprieve have been many, but let’s not get carried too far down stream by this flood of emotion. Now, alternatives have to be considered, but not in the stridently reactionary way of premier Bligh. Why the rush to build more desalination plants, Anna? This smells more of payback than planning. The first one at Tugun, plagued as it is with problems, doesn’t strike me as much of a model to be duplicated or trebled or even quadrupled. Why not raise the walls of existing dams like Wivenhoe, Borumba, Baroon and so on? By the time that’s done, say in five or 10 years, the technology for desalination could well have improved to make it much more viable. Meanwhile, why not a “Tanks a Million” campaign to capture more of the wasteful run-off from roofs?

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Premier Anna Bligh should use the money she has “saved” on the $1.8 billion Traveston Dam project to buy every household in South-East Queensland a rainwater tank, say the Greens. South-East Queensland added around 240,000 rainwater tanks over the past three years and there are about 450,000 ratepayers in Brisbane alone. Australian Greens lead Senate candidate for Queensland, Larissa Waters, said the Premier must move more aggressively on cutting the demand for water stored in dams.

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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 Friday, November 13, 2009 at 08:48AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 09:04AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 09:42AM by stevem

THE state government will press ahead with a $450 million spend on stage two of its water grid pipeline despite the loss of the Traveston Crossing Dam. The expenditure comes on top of $350 million already outlaid for stage one of the network. Infrastructure and planning minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the stage from Eudlo to Lake Macdonald linked the Sunshine Coast to the water grid and would improve water security and flexibility under critical supply situations.

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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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