Dot Whittington

September 07, 2008

THE proposal to dam the Mary River was not just a local issue, but one of national and international significance, Australian Greens leader Senator Bob Brown said yesterday.

Arriving from Canberra to take part in the GetUp! Climate Torch Relay, Senator Brown told hundreds of protesters who gathered at the proposed dam wall site at Traveston Crossing, south of Gympie, that southeast Queensland didn’t need a dam but a “great big dose of common sense”.

He had earlier carried the torch by horse and buggy before transferring to a kayak on the Mary River, which was flowing strongly after recent rain.

Hundreds gathered on the Traveston Crossing Bridge to watch as, amid cheers and loud chants of “No dam” and “No way, Mary River here to stay”, Senator Brown held the torch aloft like a crucifix as he led a flotilla of kayaks downstream.

He then held his arms up high in a victory sign as he paddled under a sign erected across the river as representative of the proposed dam wall.

Senator Brown said he had spoken to the chief custodian of the nations wildlife, Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett earlier in the week and asked him how he could contemplate allowing the destruction of the breeding grounds of three endangered species – lungfish, turtle and cod – and at least 29 other species of the Mary River.

“I asked him, ‘Peter, how could you entertain obliterating the nursery of this globally iconic species?’,” he said.

“This is not climate change, a new disease or an invasion of cane toads.

”This is a deliberate step towards wiping out these creatures from the wild.

”This is the main river, the stronghold of the lungfish.”

Senator Brown said Australia had one of the worst extinction records in the world, and it was crucial for its iconic wildlife to be protected.

He said he didn’t know what was going on behind closed doors, but allowing preparatory work to proceed was an arrogant snub of the nose at the people and saying in your face as though the legitimate processes didn’t count.

Member for Gympie David Gibson said he was concerned that the State Government was refusing to release the supplementary Environmental Impact Study report on the proposed Traveston dam, and that it was an offence under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act for work to go ahead on the project before approval was given.

“I have written to Peter Garrett about this,” Mr Gibson said.

”It is really pushing the envelope for this preliminary work to go ahead.

”The very fabric of the Mary Valley community has changed for the worse in the last 12 months.”

The Climate Torch Relay last night moved to the Paradise Dam on the Burnett River southwest of Bundaberg, which Mr Gibson described as the disastrous dam project on which Traveston was being modelled.

A spokesman for Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Paul Lucas said the supplementary EIS report was now being considered.

A report would then be compiled before being forwarded to the Federal Government for consideration.

“He will decide when it is ready,” the spokesman said.

”It is entirely up to him.

”When he is ready to release it, he will.”