Senate Inquiry
“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal,
well-meaning but without understanding” - Justice Louis D Brandeis (1856-1941)
JUST RELEASED
For PDF transcripts from Senate Inquiry: Day 1
For PDF transcripts from Senate Inquiry: Day 2
For PDF transcripts from Senate Inquiry: Day 3
For PDF transcripts from Senate Inquiry: Day 4
(click above for PDF copy)
“We thank the Queensland public servants for their assistance and willingness to give evidence to the Inquiry. They have found themselves in a difficult position having had to justify publicly and before a parliamentary committee, elements of a policy with which they were plainly uncomfortable. In all they acted responsibly and professionally and were a credit to the public service system they serve. Yet none of this overcomes what appeared to us an exercise in trying to defend the indefensible.”
”At the completion of the Inquiry we have been left with the very firm conclusion that the Traveston Crossing Dam in particular, is a political response to a serious problem, but is not one which will solve the problem.”
Lachlan Heywood
THE Federal Opposition has backed a damaging Senate report that will put pressure on the State Labor Government to scrap its controversial Traveston Dam. In a major blow to the $1.7 billion project, three Labor senators sided with the Coalition in raising “serious concerns” about the controversial dam, near Gympie.
JUST RELEASED : Terms of Reference - Traveston Crossing Dam (Stage1)
Bob Katter says Peter Beattie has made Labor so unpopular in Queensland, he may have ruined Kevin Rudd’s chances of becoming PM. Arthur Gorrie (Gympie Times) asks: What if he’s doing it on purpose?
“Come clean with Queenslanders and name the projects that he wants us to put a stop to. Let me make it clear while we are talking about the Traveston Dam that the Prime Minister has told me that he supports it. I am really delighted with that interjection. I am absolutely delighted with that interjection. Any other interjections that those opposite wish to make I would like to hear as well. Those opposite think we can live without water.”- Peter Beattie
“The federal Minister for the Environment and Water Resources had advised that he was satisfied at this stage that stage 2 of the proposed dam did not require a separate referral and assessment process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.” - Anna Bligh
” I do need, however, to be very, very firm. I am not, like Ron Boswell, going to offer false hope to the people of the Mary Valley. If this EIS stacks up, this project will go ahead. Our commitment to this dam is as strong as it has ever been. It is an absolutely critical part of water for south-east Queensland—absolutely critical—and I look forward to sending an invitation to the member for Gympie to come when we open it.” - Anna Bligh
Mr FOLEY (Maryborough—Ind): ” When it comes to environmental policy the Beattie Labor government is as steady as a two-legged cat on a sailing ship.”
” It appears that the Beattie Labor government is suffering from multiple personality disorder. With one personality it goes to great lengths to restrict the harvesting of timber whilst going ahead with the Traveston Dam, which seriously endangers rare fauna and flora and will ruin some of the finest arable farmland in our state and cause untold misery to the people of the Mary Valley as well as ruining fishing in the Great Sandy Straits. I am very disappointed with some of Queensland’s green groups. People like Dr Aila Keto seem to be missing in action on this particular issue. The green groups have been deafening in their silence on this particular issue. It leaves me to wonder: do the green groups only champion environmental causes when they happen to coincide with Labor Party policy?”
An analysis of QWIPL testimony at the Senate Inquiry
Darren Edward
THE Queensland Government appears to have been caught out misleading the Traveston Crossing dam inquiry, with false claims on flood mitigation and “ridiculous” examples of alleged damage from the 1999 floods. In sworn evidence to the Senate Inquiry’s recent Queensland sittings, the State Government has confounded local experts with claims that Mary River flooding in 1999 killed seven people between Gympie and Maryborough, injured 30 more, rendered 130 homeless and forced the evacuation of 180.
Professor Peter Collignon, director of infectious diseases and microbiology at ACT Pathology, told a senate inquiry the water would be better used for non-drinking purposes.
“I think we should recycle as much as possible. My viewpoint is, that last option should be putting it into our drinking water,” Prof Collignon said.
Readers Digest Poll: Are you willing to drink sewage water ?
An unusual mix of public health advocates, environmentalists and laundry workers joined yesterday in a petition demanding that federal authorities ban a chemical additive found in some household detergents and other cleaning agents. The petition, which was submitted to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, also called for studies of human risks related to the dirt-lifting agents called nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs. Studies have shown NPEs to be potent gender-benders, believed to be responsible for transforming male fish into females in waterways worldwide. Marine scientists at Stony Brook University say NPEs are the likely culprit in the decline of male winter flounder in Jamaica Bay. The groups calling for a ban of NPEs say the transformed fish may be “the proverbial canaries in the coal mine,” and that human safety issues have yet to be uncovered.
Dr Peter M J Fisher - CSIRO
Despite what is commonly assumed by equipment manufactures, some water engineers and politicians, the underlying processes in “membrane filtration” are still not fully understood – notably the uncanny ability of large life-based molecules to apparently undergo a form of metamorphosis to slip through nanometre-scale barriers. Sewage effluent to which such systems are to be applied are the ultimate witch’s brew with just about everything going down plugholes or toilet bowls including all manner of illicit drugs like “ice”, generally in excretions.
Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce pursued the legality of building the dam to Stage 2 when the State Government was only seeking environmental approval under the EPBC Act for Stage 1. Bureaucrats from the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Water confirmed today that the Beattie Government was only applying for approval to build the dam to Stage 1, even though the dam wall and properties acquired indicate construction to Stage 2, Senator Joyce said.
“What is the problem with this? Well, just that it is misleading, dishonest and socially brutal to the lives of people in the area.”
Justin Satire
In a press statement today, Queensland Water Infrastructure proudly released the latest in their series of “artists impressions” of their ongoing engineering of the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam.
The latest image depicts part of the re-location of the Mary Valley Highway near Kandanga. “We’re very proud of this artist’s impression” said QWIPL CEO Graeme “half-a” Newton. “A lot of people think that all of our skills base resides in river hydrology and dam engineering. But I think this drawing will prove to our critics that we are equally skilled in road design”.
Anna Bligh’s comments on the Traveston Senate Inquiry (from QLD Hansard) Extracts from:
Ms BLIGH: “I watched as Senator Joyce paraded with the nuns on the steps of the Convention Centre. They wrapped themselves in a coloured scarf. I am not entirely sure what the political message was. I have to say that I was taught by the Franciscan and Mercy nuns and I have nothing but respect for the many orders of nuns in this country.”
Ms BLIGH: “Here we have the sisters of the perpetual opposition, and that is what we saw on the steps of the convention centre yesterday. The sisters of perpetual opposition—”
Mr Lucas: ” There’s the Mother Superior.”
A Swamp News reader comment:
Ms BLIGH: “Here we have the sisters of the perpetual opposition, and that is what we saw on the steps of the convention centre yesterday. The sisters of perpetual opposition—”
Mr Lucas: ” There’s the Mother Superior.”
A Swamp News reader comment:
Mother Superior: Repent your sins and walk in the light, child.
A.B.: But I’ve been saying my “Dam Mary“‘s every day.
Mother Superior: Ummm, it’s ” Hail Mary”. You were always a bit slow, weren’t you?
THE Senate inquiry into the proposed Traveston Dam is turning into a public relations disaster for the Queensland Government. Fierce opposition to the $1.7 billion project is coming from all sections of the community, including the RSL, Country Women’s Association, local government, Aboriginal elders, farming and environmental groups, and the clergy. Of 187 submissions received by the Senate’s Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, the only submission in support of the 180,000 megalitre dam was lodged by Premier Peter Beattie on behalf of the State Government.
