Anna Bligh Announcement Rallies Public Attention

Queensland awoke on Sunday September 13 to an announcement from Premier Bligh, that the dam was approved and construction would begin by January. Based on a media statement released exclusively to the Sunday Mail, the resultant front page article brought shock, and an even firmer resolve, to supporters of the Save the Mary campaign. Reading more closely, what really happened is something far less dramatic.

“Today’s news is not a big deal. Despite the media fanfare, this is not the EIS going to Peter Garret for approval, it’s a draft of the possible conditions. Even the Government media release states that what they have sent to Canberra is the draft set of proposed conditions,” Steve Burgess said to hundreds gathered at Kandanga that afternoon.

The article went on to promise construction would begin in the new year, pending federal approval, in a style reminiscent of Beattie’s claims in 2006 that the “bulldozers would be rolling by Christmas”. Like that statement, today’s was another media stunt but one that’s welcomed by the Save the Mary River Coordinating Group. This premature announcement suggesting approval may well have back-fired. It was widely interpreted as the Government’s attempt to re-gain the front foot after a bad week in the media in terms of health, education and the continuing fall-out of the Gordon Nuttall case.

Instead, it triggered a gathering of hundreds of supporters, at only a few hours notice, to meet with a pack of media at the Save the Mary Info Centre in Kandanga. The gathering served to reassert our opposition, and also allowed a shocked community to meet together, clarify the meaning behind the day’s headlines and plan for the next phase of the campaign.

[Statement from 'The Dambusters Bulletin' issued by the Save the Mary Coordinating Group, 13.09.09.]