Queensland's Labor Government, under Premier Anna Bligh, has been returned to power for another term.  In her election night speech, she acknowledged that the swing against Labor had given a strong message to the government, and gave an undertaking for renewal within cabinet and the process of government..  We can hope that this promised renewal, and the extraordinarily strong position that the Premier now has as Australia's first elected female head of state, means that she can show some real strength in correcting some of the situations she inherited from the former Beattie administration.  In particular, she gave an undertaking to 'the regions' for a better performance by government on regional issues. A good place to start would be in the electorates north of Brisbane where Labor lost every single seat in the entire region...

These three Internet documentaries are essential viewing if you want a video introduction to the history , the human impact and some of the downstream impacts of the proposed dam project.

A colourful procession of endangered species and protestors where hounded by the Grim Reaper today as they delivered 1000 protest letters and postcards to Mr McNamara's office. The Grim Reaper symbolises both the death sentence the proposed dam represents to endangered species and also the death of democracy inherent in the way in which our concerns have been ignored by the Government.

Photographs of the delivery are available at: 

For the latest info from the Brisbane team, go to http://savethemaryriverbrisbane.wordpress.com/

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According to information in the Environmental Impact Statement, this is what the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam would have looked like in February 2003.  Download this document (9 pictures) and click through to see just how quickly the proposed dam would fail in a drought.  It destroys a huge area of valuable farmland and would only hold a small amount of water, which it would lose very quickly to evaporation and seepage during dry times. Although it would empty and fill up very quickly, like a shallow saucer left out in the rain, it would not  provide useful long term storage for the times when it is needed the most.   This project will not provide water security to South East Queensland - it is a total waste of our money and yet another Queensland environmental disaster in the making.

While LNP and Labor supporters sat on street corners and in shopping centres throughout Brisbane just a week out from election day, hundreds of Save the Mary  supporters took to the city and streets of marginal seats in the most energetic display of the day. See a  selection of photographs from the day.

The candidates running in the Maryborough and Hervey Bay electorates have been asked for their views on the proposed dam. If you wish to cast a "No Dam" vote this election, please use this information to help you decide who to vote for and also how you allocate your preferences.

ONLY THE LABOR CANDIDATES EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR THE DAM

The responses to date are available at: 

http://travestonswamp.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4326

The most comprehensive information yet made available about the planned Bruce Highway upgrade between Sankey's Road  and Traveston Road is now available on the Federal Government's EPBC website.  The documents which accompany the referral of the project to the Federal Government under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act contain the best information available  so far about the State Government's current plans for this section of the highway.  It is interesting to note that in several places the new highway route passes right through the proposed stage 2 inundation zone of the Traveston Crossing Dam proposal.

The Dambusters is now online.  Highlights in this issue include:

Extensive President's report on state election and other recent news

Latest info on Taking Mary to the Marginals...p 2

Trouble in the ALP ranks...p 3

Tips for Instant campaigning...p 4

Origami turtle...p 5

Love. Mary book reviews...p 7

In the news...p 8

Check out the new brochure '21 Ways to Help Save the Mary in the Next Three Weeks!'.

The Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh

The proposed dam project at Traveston crossing is already well over a quarter of a billion dollars over budget, before the project has even been granted approval to proceed under the State Development Act.  Land purchase costs incurred to date are already double the estimates stated in the EIS, the most recent parliamentary estimates of mitigation costs are double to triple those stated in the EIS.  After a federal senate inquiry, and a string of independent reports commissioned by the federal government, the senate has called on Qld to scrap the project. 

 JUST DO IT!  Use our money for something more useful, and save a river system for our children's legacy.

Please.