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September 10, 2006
So Queenslanders have given Peter Beattie a fourth consecutive term as Premier and a third straight landslide win. The ALP has done much better than was expected----far better given the smell of incompetence. After all this was an eight year old state government going for re-election with a history of big scandals. It was looking ragged.
Leahy
The big protest vote that was evident in the electorate's disaffection with the Beattie Government was not captured by the conservative parties. Presumably, a strong regional economy and a divided Opposition --one not ready to govern --played their part. The Liberal Party remains a rump in what should be its heartland in metropolitan Brisbane. So despite being dogged by scandals Team Beattie retains a big majority whilst the Liberal/National Opposition is still not capable of doing its job of making the Beattie Government accountable. Never fear, Beattie has made lots of assurances about openness and transparency and he will continue to blame Canberra for the things that continue to go wrong.
Beattie says that he will use his mandate to fix the health and water problems. It looks like being another hot summer, and that means tightening water restrictions in south west Queensland. Beattie's fix is a 'water grid' to ensure adequate water supply into the future by damming the Mary River at Traveston, between Brisbane and Gympie. By all accounts the Mary's flow is pretty low.
Jane Fynes-Clinton, writing in the Brisbane Sunday Mail questions Beattie's way of 'fixing ' the water problem. She says that:
...you would be hard-pressed getting your kneecaps wet, let alone immersing yourself in the chilly, clear water. This is the water source that is being promoted as the answer to quenching the thirst of the state's southeast...The only time there is a lot of water around is when the Mary floods every decade or so, and then she pours out enough water for everyone. But surely a dam is not being built – with all its financial, environmental, emotional and physical costs – on the hope of an infrequent flood? Surely a freak of nature is not what those who make decisions pin their hopes and build a plan on?
She goes on to say that the site is a mess of various forms of rock, gravel and slushy shale which will cause enormous engineering complexity in the dam construction. Bedrock is hard to find. During flood, silt washes thick and fast and would pile up against a dam wall.
It doesn't look that smart to me.
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Gary, the Greens scored our all time record vote in Queensland. Not that anyone would know this by reading the mainstream media!