Well Wednesday proved to be an exciting day for some on the Fraser Coast. The opening of the crest gates at Lenthalls Dam was clearly overshaddowed by the announcement of Seymour Group and Watpac being the sucessful tenderers for the Urangan Harbour redevelopment.
Another big announcement was council finally coming clean on the water park. It was no surprise to hear it will be constructed on the Esplanade beside Seafront Oval. It was good to see Belinda McNeven push the discussion on the Water Park out into the public forum at the council meeting on Tuesday rather than continue to discuss the matter in confidential. We can only hope they get on with the business of building it as it is long overdue.
On a not so happy note, it is disappointing to learn that the government is working to push more responsibility for promoting tourism onto local governments - we will try to follow these developments closely.
KEVIN O7 WATER PRIVATISATION FROM THE SOCIALIST HEAVEN
http://www.qbr.com.au/index.cfm?storyid=35084&cp=displaystory&type=s
Qld’ers feature on new national infrastructure body
Wednesday 21 May 2008
Two Queenslanders have been appointed to a new national body to fix and modernise Australia’s transport, water, energy and communications infrastructure.
Phil Hennessy and Ross Rolfe have been appointed as members of Infrastructure Australia alongside the likes of Australian Industries Group CEO Heather Ridout, and Sydney Water Managing Director and CEO Dr Kerry Schott.
Hennessy is Queensland Chairman of KPMG and practices in the area of corporate reconstruction.
His experience ranges widely across a number of market sectors and he has undertaken numerous insolvency related assignments and viability reviews for lenders, creditors and other stakeholders, with involvement in most of Queensland’s largest and high profile insolvencies.
He is also Chair of Government Owned Corporation, SunWater, Queensland President of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Chair of the Mater Hospital Foundation, Director of Western Corridor Recycled Water Pty Ltd and Chair of the Premier of Queensland Export Awards Committee.
Rolfe is Senior Executive, Infrastructure at Babcock & Brown. Formally Director-General of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet since 2005, he oversaw the south-east Queensland water grid, Queensland Government’s health action plan, Cyclone Larry response, and forming future policy.
The body will be chaired by Non-Executive Chairman (Australia & New Zeland) JP Morgan Sir Rod Eddington.
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Anthony Albanese says the council’s immediate responsibilities concern completing an audit of nationally significant infrastructure by the end of 2007; Developing an Infrastructure Priority List to guide billions of dollars of public and private investment; and advising on the removal of disincentives to greater private investment in public infrastructure, including the complexity and cost of public-private partnerships.
“Ultimately, the work and advice of Infrastructure Australia will inform the Government’s allocations from the soon-to-be-established $20 billion Building Australia Fund,” he says.
MR ROLFE , was none other than the coordinator general who approved Paradise Dam , which we are about to knobble , MR HENNESEY is of course the chair of the quasi private body loosely referred to as SUNWATER , which has an Illegitimately spawned off- spring called QWI building TRAVESTON DAM .
SUNWATER IS THE BODY WHICH SWALLOWED BURNETT WATER PTY LTD , AND ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SCREWING LUNGFISH IN THE BURNETT RIVER .
There are qld cabinet documents showing that an SEQ water grid is being planned which will see water being piped from all storages from gladstone to the NSW border into brisvegas.
When this is completed or even pehaps before this , all water in at least the SEQ area ( and WBW ) will be sold to a very large private entity such as , for a hypothetical example , Babcock & Brown , a private water company which Ms Liz Nosworthy the SEQ water commissioner is a director of , rumour has it that the ex premier may even get a guernsy !
What id like to know is , why did WBW not get a guernsey?, I mean this is right up their alley , or are they warming up on the interchange bench?
When Kevin o7 gets this sorted , water to the household will be $3600 a year, 10 times more than now , which means that WBW will be able to break even , to say the least ! If brisbane does not suck lenthalls dry?
The LOCAL 7 news department, appears to be going in the same direction as our local rag, by not representing the community and straying away from the tag of LOCAL, by filling their news coverage with non LOCAL content. The latest blonde to grace our screens, seems to of missed the point all round when it comes to building relations with the people she has to deal with on a daily basis … rumour has it numerous people have experienced an unrelenting “I want it now” attitude, and even staff aren’t safe from her 3 year old hissy fits, as witnessed last week by people in the street, when she threw a tirade of abuse at a poor camera man, just trying to do his job.
Roger,
A very competent summary of the current shenanigans of governernment, but one point you may have overlooked is that since October 2000 ALL water in Qld belongs to the ‘government’ (read ruling corporation), as stated in Queensland’s Water Bill 2000, chapter 2, part 2 / 19 (page 35) and chapter 1 / 4.1 (page 32.
Please ask your local State Member for a copy, which they were once required to provide on request, just to let them know some of us are still interested in their activities as well as informing ourselves on the reality of water ownership.
Now that our State Corporation has assumed rights to ALL water in Qld then any comment or criticism of what they do with their water is surely irrelevant.
What is needed is to bring the political process back under the control of the people. We can then instruct our representatives on what we want.
At the moment they are not obeying any instruction from within their electorates, or indeed within the country!