Updated on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:27PM by stevem

The Bligh Government may not admit it but there were quarters breathing a deep sigh of relief after federal Minister Peter Garrett put the ‘stop’ sign up for the Traveston dam project. The wheels were well in motion for damming the Mary River when Anna Bligh took over as premier — it was a Peter Beattie project. Fast forward to 2009 and the State Government simply can’t afford any more big-ticket infrastructure projects. To have the Traveston dam off the books is like winning lotto for this Government. And limiting water consumption to 200 litres per person per day is as much about delaying the need to sign a cheque for another desalination plant as it is about genuine water conservation.

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Updated on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:36AM by stevem

A MAJOR economic analysis of the State Government’s $15 billion asset sale claims the plan has no credibility, could cost millions and is based on poor economic advice and manipulated Treasury figures. The report, by Sydney University Professor Bob Walker and his wife Betty Con-Walker, a former NSW Treasury boss, rubbishes the need for the privatisation and claims it would be fundamentally foolish. It describes the Government’s strategy as a “Magic Pudding” which could somehow reduce debt and build infrastructure with the same money. The report, commissioned by the union movement which is opposed to privatisation, also claims the Government manipulated figures to provide an economic picture that was far worse than in reality.

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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 Friday, November 20, 2009 at 07:57AM by stevem

Updated on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 07:17AM by stevem

Premier Bligh has outlined a six month buy back scheme for the Mary Valley landowners who sold their properties so that the Traveston Crossing Dam project could proceed. Ms Bligh said normal rules had been waived so that tenant farmers and other former Mary Valley landowners could buy their land back at the same price they sold it for. Under normal State Government buy back rules that opportunity normally only exists for 12 months after the original sale of the property and many of the landowners in the Valley sold their land up to two years ago.

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LAST month’s announcement that the federal government would demand a say in planning the future of Australian cities saw Queensland premier Anna Bligh immediately jump in with a suggestion. Ms Bligh applauded prime minister Kevin Rudd’s approach but said her state already had the answers. Lauding her government’s infrastructure plan as an international award winner, Ms Bligh said it could be the model to guide the growth of the “big Australia” Mr Rudd envisaged. There is fat chance of that now. Central to that SEQ infrastructure plan was her government’s $9 billion water strategy which now lies exposed as an exercise in pure folly.

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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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Updated on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 10:38AM by stevem

Updated on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 10:42AM by stevem

Premier Anna Bligh has another water battle on her hands after a huge rally last night vowed to fight tooth and nail to block desalination plants as a water security option. Ms Bligh will again have to run the gauntlet of the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Protection Act, which killed off the Traveston Crossing Dam. The Marcoola pipeline route from the ocean to the desalination plant and then on to connect with the grid to take water to Brisbane would affect 35 different species covered by that act, according to Sunshine Coast councillor Debbie Blumel.

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Updated on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 06:55AM by stevem

Campaigners who have successfully stopped the Traveston Crossing Dam proposal yesterday called on Premier Anna Bligh to “stop scaremongering” over the price of water in the wake of Environment Minister Peter Garrett’s rejection of the dam. The Premier’s claims had already been shown to be spurious and that was one reason they were rejected, according to Save the Mary River Group president Glenda Pickersgill. “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.

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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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IF YOU’VE ever wondered why your garden hose has been reduced to a trickle or the water barely makes it to your shower head - here’s why. In a desperate bid to stop ageing pipes and water mains bursting, Sydney Water dropped the pressure in thousands of homes. It claims its “pressure management program” has already saved an estimated $4.6 million and 400 water main breaks, with the program expected to save the equivalent of 30 Olympic-size swimming pools a day.

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