In a Parliamentary speech, Glen Elmes₁ warned how the vast discretionary powers, given to the Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Stirling Hinchliffe (pictured), with his past history as a property development industry insider, would add to the consequences of SEQ's already shambolic urban planning and environmental management and runaway population growth.

Speech from Queensland State Parliamentary Hansard of Hansard of 12 Feb 10, linked to from Hansard page, See also: "SEQ Regional Plan a travesty against the people of South East Queensland" of 9 May 09 by Dr Jane O'Sullivan, "The downward spiral of hasty population growth" of 8 Mar 10 on Online Opinion by Dr Jane O'Sullivan.

Please attend public forums against population growth, featuring Kelvin Thomson, Mark O'Connor and others. Brisbane: 8:30AM - 12:30PM, Saturday 13 March, Sunshine Coast: 2:00PM-4:30PM, Sunday 14 March.(See article "Sunshine Coast environmentalists condemn sham population debate" for more details.)

‘Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink;’ Thus spoke the Ancient Mariner in the 18th century. A recent report  warns that without global action, demand for water in 2030 will outstrip supply by 40 per cent. Ray Brown, Mayor of the outback Queensland town of Dalby, says the town's in real danger of running out of water and restrictions may be increased to their highest level if the situation doesn't improve. Dam levels in Toowoomba, Queensland's biggest inland city, are down to 8.5 per cent.

The Queensland Government's Draft South East Queensland Regional Plan, far from achieving its lofty claimed goals of "protect(ing) and enhanc(ing) the quality of life", landscape values, biodiversity and natural assets of the region, will, instead, turn much of that region into an economically depressed, crowded and ecologically unsustainable slum for no better purpose than to keep profits flowing into the pockets of developers who largely bankroll the ruling Queensland Labor Party.

I was moved to republish the article after I read, with dismay, in the Courier Mail, yet another of many dispiriting stories about the rental accommodation crisis, one of many predictable consequence of that newspaper's aggressive past and ongoing promotion of population growth.

See also: Shared accommodation a necessity and no longer a choice for many in Brisbane

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.

Queensland Wildlife Preservation Society calls for Review of the Moreton Bay Marine Park Zoning Plan to consider impacts of dredging on seagrass, which is vital for turtles, dugongs and healthy fisheries.

The Queensland Government's so-called "affordable housing strategy", signed in July with no community consultation, establishes an Urban Land Development Authority with sweeping powers, including the power to amalgamate land, to acquire land in its own right, and to on-sell their land with development rights to particular private developers.

... Golden Cockerel goes back to Council and asks for an extension to the working hours, 3am-10pm 19hrs a day they cry. They are concerned that the Company cannot make enough profit in 12hr days, six days a week. If the People want cheap Chickens, then that is the price Residents of Mt Cotton must pay for the benefit of us all, and Rightly So! I don't want to pay more for my chicken! Who does? ...

Deborah Tabart, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Koala Foundation has written to the Queensland Environment Minister (see below) asking the the status of Koalas in the South East Queensland bio-region be upgraded from their current listing of 'vulnerable' to 'endangered' as a result of the alarming recent increase of Koala deaths. Deborah Tabart wrote:

Residents of Mudgeeraba and Reedy Creek still don't know how their suburbs will grow following a public meeting on the Gold Coast's Local Growth Management Strategy held in Mudgeeraba last week.