Six weeks ago a select group of highfliers sat down to break bread with the premier and prime minister at a chic South Brisbane eatery. Lobbyists, businessmen and representatives of the development, property and energy industries were present after parting with $5500 for the privilege. Prominent Gold Coast developer Jim Raptis was among the two dozen diners. His controversial multimillion dollar ‘Platinum on Main’ project had been called in by the State Government and he reportedly grumbled to the Premier’s chief of staff that night about the process. Two weeks later the development was given the green light.

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Updated on Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 09:48AM by stevem

It could be the first sign of an inevitable showdown. Four months after the Sunshine Coast community delivered an unambiguous message at the ballot box, the Property Council has indicated it is not going to accept limits on growth and development lying down. It has warned of diabolical consequences if this policy is pursued and the region is shaping up as a key battleground in the debate about the continued rapid expansion championed by the development industry and backed by the state government. Mayor Bob Abbot romped home in the March elections with around 70% of the Coast-wide vote and up to 95% in his former Noosa Shire – an increase of more than 20% on his 2004 result.

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Updated on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 01:41PM by stevem

Dams versus desalination: which is the better alternative to secure water supplies for the parched south-east? Debate has raged since the government unveiled its controversial plan to build the $1.7 billion Traveston Dam and has been reignited with the admission that water prices are set to soar due to a blow-out in infrastructure costs. The government’s $9 billion water grid is expected to force average household water bills on the Sunshine Coast up by almost $200 by 2012-13. Other households in the south-east will be slugged even more as taxpayers pick up the tab for hundreds of kilometres in interconnecting pipelines, two new dams, a desalination plant at Tugun and a new recycling scheme.

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Updated on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 10:18AM by stevem

Kevin Ingersole from for the Save the Mary River Action group said the government had been withholding information about alternatives to the dam, because it would soon become obvious that the public was being sold a pup. “One of the key points that has been made consistently to the coordinator-general in hundreds of submissions on the Traveston Dam Environmental Impact Statement the lack of any half serious attempt to define and consider and compare the alternatives,” he said. “Taxpayers should be flooding their MPs with faxes and emails and phone calls, ‘saying how dare you treat us like idiots and waste our money like this’?

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An independent water expert says annual greenhouse gas emissions associated with the Traveston dam will be 100 times greater than claimed in the environmental impact statement. Professor Stuart White, from the Institute of Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology in Sydney, said the energy required for key components of the project had been excluded, rendering the document incomplete and unreliable.

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Sunshine Coast super council mayoral contender Bob Abbot has unveiled plans to create a Coast-wide biosphere reserve as part of his policy for environmental excellence for the upcoming council elections. Mr Abbot said he believed the region was worthy of the same recognition that UNESCO had bestowed on the Noosa shire last year and he had already spoken to a number of communities on the Coast about the possibilities. “It’s been my aim for some time now to establish a world class biosphere reserve right across the Sunshine Coast,” he said. “It’s not about a development control plan and it’s not about forcing people to do anything.

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The statistics confirm it and the evidence is all around us. The Sunshine Coast is booming with new residents flocking to the region in droves. New arrivals are drawn to the area’s natural assets, its beautiful beaches, the glorious hinterland, the temperate climate and laid-back lifestyle. The state government has decreed that growth is good and estimates our population will be nudging the Gold Coast’s current numbers by 2026. What is the Coast’s carrying capacity, can growth be slowed or are we destined to become a replica of our southern counterpart?

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Updated on Monday, January 14, 2008 at 10:08AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, January 14, 2008 at 10:20AM by stevem

Dam opponents claim the government has inadvertantly admitted that desalination would offer a cheaper, quicker and more reliable solution to south-east Queensland’s water woes. And they believe it is likely that a half-a-million-dollar report prepared by professional services giant Gutteridge, Haskins and Davey has been kept under wraps because it supports their argument.

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Updated on Saturday, December 22, 2007 at 04:16PM by stevem

The state government has refused to guarantee that it will honour former premier Peter Beattie’s promise to include Noosa’s recommendations in full in new iconic legislation meant to protect the council’s planning scheme. Under threat are provisions that limit building height, advertising signage and protect vegetation. Announcing the Iconic Queensland Strategy in August, Mr Beattie said it would give the shire unprecedented protection by enshrining critical elements of its planning scheme in state law and he would accept the council’s recommendations “lock, stock and barrel”.

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Last year, the region was dealt a serious body blow with the announcement of plans to build the Traveston Dam, creating a wave of uncertainty and distress…….Database manager and One Nation WA candidate Martin Essenberg said the Traveston Dam was the overwhelming issue for residents throughout the electorate. Mr Essenberg said the dam would devastate the local environment and give the green light for future governments to trample land holders’ rights. “It will set a precedent about the government’s power to resume land for the perceived common good and it also potentially reduces the ownership of all freehold title land to some type of lease hold,” he said. “When the last resident of the Mary is evicted, ask not for whom the bell tolls - it will toll for us as a free people.”

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