CRC Joins Fight in Opposing Proposed Traveston Dam

14th October 2006

The Conondale Range Committee, one of the Sunshine Coast’s longest established conservation groups, has joined the opposition to the building of a dam on the Mary River.

Committee President Ian Mackay has criticized all major political parties who seem to see dams as the only way to supply water.

“What has turned this drought into a water crisis for south-east Queensland is the fact that we are totally, one hundred percent, dependent on dams,” he said.

“Future generations will look back in bewilderment at governments that persisted in putting their best farming land under water,” Mr Mackay said.

“We have one of two rivers in the world with lungfish and we contemplate building a dam across the middle of it.”

“It’s not as if there aren’t alternatives. The Brisbane City Council has just announced a major expansion of its rainwater tank rebate program due to unprecendented public support and yet the government persists in building more dams.”

He predicted that the decision to build a Mary River Dam was the government’s biggest political gamble to date, saying that opposition was widespread, not just from national environment groups but from the wider community.

“With the ABC’s biggest ever online poll running at a resounding 86% “no” to more dams, the ripples from the decision to build this dam will be felt in marginal electorates across the state,” Mr Mackay said.

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