Peter Garrett's decision to stop the building of the Traveston dam is to be heartily applauded. However, he did no more than what should be expected of a Federal Minister for the Environment when faced with such an environmentally reckless proposal. Environmentalists still need to take stock of Garrett's generally abysmal past record and not allow themsleves to be put in a position where they have to beg the Minister to do the right thing.

The Save the Mary River Brisbane Group has contacted all candidates contesting the Queensland elections to ask for their views on the proposed Traveston Dam and related issues such as water recycling. I sent my responses almost immediately. I cc'd my responses to a number of other candidates and invited them to send me their responses for publication on this web site.

Update: 17 Mar 09: Response from Mount Coot-tha candidates published.
Briefly: Candidates in favour of damming the Mary River and driving the lungfish to extinction: Andrew Fraser
Candidates against damming the Mary River: James Sinnamon, Larissa Waters, John Pollard.

See also: savethemaryriverbrisbane.wordpress.com

Questionairre to candidates in Mount Coot-tha electorate.

On 8 March I responded to a questionnaire from the Brisbane Save The Mary River group and sent copies to other candidates contesting the seat of Mount Coot-tha, as well as to Premier Anna Bligh and to Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg. Lawrence Springborg replied almost immediately that same day. I responded to ask that he act against the principle driver of .Queensland's water crises, namely population growth now actively encouraged by the Bligh Government.

Throughout Queensland, home owners and tenants are being forced to move home to make way for the frenzy of infrastructure development necessitated by the enforced population growth imposed by the Commonwealth and state governments.

A rally to protest about the costs of growth to the community and the invasion of housing and infrastructure into high biodiversity areas of South East Queensland will take place outside the Labor Party Conference at the Convention Centre on the Gold Coast this Saturday, 21st June at 10:30am.

See also: Protest at Queensland State Labor Party conference to Save the Mary River

The Save the Mary River Coordinating Committee are organising a protest outside the conference of the ruling Labor Party this coming Saturday to save the Mary River, its community and rich agricultural soil together and rare endangered species in the area including the Lungfish, the Mary River Perch and the Mary River Turtle.

Join Independent State Member for Maryborough, Chris Foley and others at a rally at Parliament House, George St, Brisbane on Friday June 6 at 11am.

See also: www.savethemaryriver.com, www.chrisfoley.com.au

On Saturday 12 April kayaker, Steve Posselt will commence a journey from the West End boat ramp on the Brisbane River to save the Mary River.

The launch of the bid of group Integrity Gympie to win control of the Gympie Council chamber is to be held at the Gympie Bowls Club at 2.00PM on Saturday 2 February 2008. Integrity Gympie was formed by independent community activists together with three currently serving councillors who were concerned that the current Gympie Regional Council led by Mayor Mick Vernados favours the interests of developers at the expense of their own constituents.

The Australian newspaper, came out in its editorial of Tuesday 8 January in favour of the dam across the Mary River to be build at Traveston claiming that "the ingenuity of science and technology should ensure that the endangered Australian lungfish, the world's oldest vertebrate animal, can continue to flourish".

Today’s reports of Kevin Rudd’s own family decrying his silence on the proposed Mary River dam are sentiments shared by many Queenslanders, who deserve to know what Labor’s position on the dam is before voting on Saturday, said the Greens today.

Independent Candidate for Wide Bay Cate Molloy vows to introduce bills to stop the Traveston Dam and forced council amalgamations.

Whilst the Greens commendably oppose the building of the ecologically and socially destructive Traveston dam, their latest media release on the subject astonishingly omits to address Queensland's enforced population growth, which is the principle driver of South East Queensland's water crisis. Given that the Queensland Labor Government ... intends to increase the population of South East Queensland alone by 1.1 million by the year 2026, it is difficult to understand how the Greens can maintain that it is possible to find sufficient water for the additional population without building dams such as the Traveston Dam.

The decision to approve Gunns’ pulp mill in Tasmania's Tamar Valley with conditions is an indication of the likely federal response to the Traveston Dam, with both decisions failing to protect the environment, said the Greens today.

Today's Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport majority report into water supply options for South East Queensland produced recommendations that don't go far enough, with only the additional comments by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert applying the evidence before the Inquiry and recommending that the Traveston Dam be scrapped.

The Southern Cross Independent Candidate for Wide Bay, Cate Molloy, today damned her former party leader for reaching the heights of hypocrisy over his failure to take stand on Traveston while opposing the proposed damming of the Clarence River.