Chris Foley-Qld Parliamentary Hansard

I have a great deal of sympathy for the minister. This is a very difficult thing to do. Like I said at the outset of my speech today, I am not opposed to dams but I am opposed to the Traveston Dam.

I wish to quote a couple of interesting statistics. I have had significant discussions with environment minister Desley Boyle regarding a private member’s bill that I am working on at the moment. We affectionately call it the ‘piddle bill’, as it relates to urinals. One fill-up-and-flush urinal at Kenmore High School—and members should listen carefully if they care about these particular issues— used 272,000 litres of fresh drinking water per fortnight. That was reduced to 4,000 litres per fortnight by the installation of a motion sensor system. The private member’s bill that I will bring to the House will
mandate the use of either motion sensor or manual flush systems.

1514 Water Amendment Bill 09 May 2006

Let us crunch numbers a little. The member for Kallangur and I were discussing this a little earlier. If one urinal can save six million litres of fresh water per year and this is a 660-megalitre dam, that equates to 110 urinals being changed from fill-up-and-flush to motion sensor or manual flush. That would save an amount of water that is equivalent to the total storage capacity of this dam. The debate is not just about building dam infrastructure; it is about the proper use of water. Let me say it again so it is very clear: if 110 fill-up-and-flush urinals were changed to motion sensor urinals, we would save the same amount of water as the total water capacity storage of this dam. If members do not believe me, they can grab a calculator and work it out.

The Mary River is a very unique river system with remnant rainforest along the catchment streams, rare and endangered animals such as the Mary River cod and numerous known habitat sites within the proposed dam location that link other populations such as the Mary River tortoise, which is the only species of that genus in the world and is known to occur from Tiaro to Imbil. Building a dam will have a definite effect on that tortoise, the lungfish, platypus, and the list goes on and on. That is a heritage that our children should share. I do not want to see a fight between the city and the bush.
However, I believe that that is what this dam proposal will usher in.