Coolayla

Peter Garrett has won the praise of tens of thousands of residents in the Mary Valley and Cooloola region. This follows his decision to deny the application by the Queensland Government to build a dam at Traveston Crossing. Most of the residents who still remain in their homes will now relax in the knowledge they won’t be evicted. Others who had sold their properties will look to try and return now.

This is the area that I call home and I must admit to having mixed feelings about the building of the dam. I could see a huge economic benefit for the region – I could also see that a lot of valuable fertile land was going to be flooded and rendered useless.

Once the news was released today I did feel an immense sense of relief. I am a modern environmentalist. I do believe in protecting as much of our environment as possible. I also understand that sometimes you do need to make some sacrifices – in these cases rather than protesting to stop something, I would rather protest to protect as much as possible.

I think most people were caught by surprise by Peter Garrett’s decision. The former frontman for Midnight Oil has a history of being an environmentalist and his intervention on the Great Keppel Island development have flagged his willingness to stand up to another labor government.

Is Anna Bligh happy about the situation. She is putting on the appearance of being most unhappy. However one of the first statements by the government was that they were not going to challenge the decision. I think that says plenty. In fact I believe this is one decision she is happy to have seen taken out her hands.

What now for the future? Good question. Desalination plants are now being discussed. There is no doubt that Queensland needs more water resources. We also need much more in the way of water planning.