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| The story so far: |
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As you may have heard, the Qld Coordinator General's
report regarding Traveston Crossing dam has been released
and sent to Peter Garrett. The future of the Mary River
now rests in his hands... work with us to urge him to
make the right decision.
The report from the Qld government says there will
be negligible social, economic and environmental impacts!
It includes 1200 conditions, but no plan for implementing
them!
It is possible Peter Garrett will make a decision
within the next few weeks.
We need to keep the pressure on him at this time.
These new online letters include:
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a request that Peter Garrett reject the dam proposal
outright; |
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a request that Peter Garrett wait for the outcome
of the Paradise Dam court case before proceeding
with his decision on the Traveston Dam proposal; |
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a request that Peter Garrett provide a public
submission period for comment on the Qld government
report before proceeding with his decision; |
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a timely reminder to Kevin Rudd that his government
aspires to be considered environmentally responsible
in the eyes of the world; |
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a request to Kate Jones to release the Qld government
Lungfish Recovery Plan for public scrutiny; |
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a reminder to Penny Wong to ensure that the federal
government remembers its' own commendable National
Plan for water security. |
It's time to ramp up the pressure... the campaign
is certainly not over yet!
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| So here's what you can do... |
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Act now...
download the letters to print & post yourself - click
here [PDF file of all letters 325kb]
- give copies to your friends, distribute them
at work, your clubs, your local neighbourhood... spread the
word, time is running out! |
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Or use the link below to generate a letter... you fill
out an online form, and we print & post the letter for
you. |
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Click
here to tell your friends! Get them
all sending letters too. |
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Toss some $$ our way toward the stamps and printing
costs of the massive mailbags heading toward Canberra.
We take Paypal and give big thanks!
Click
here to donate (you pick the amount - large or small,
we appreciate it). |
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| There's a mountain of reasons to object to this proposal.
Get your dam facts straight with these great websites! |
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www.savethemaryriver.com
- official campaign site
www.ourgreatsandy.com
- coastal impacts
www.stoppress.com.au
- activism in pictures
www.swampnews.squarespace.com
- news & articles
www.savethemaryriver.com/shop
- merchandise
www.facebook.com
- visit the Save the Mary River page and become a fan! |
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| And just in case you thought the campaign was a few whinging
farmers somewhere in the Qld bush... here's a few words from
some of our high profile supporters... |
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“Building another dam because there isn't
much water in the ones we have, is like seeing there isn't enough
money in your wallet and deciding to buy a bigger wallet".
Professor Ian Lowe, President Australian Conservation Foundation. |
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"This is the sort of thing we have come
to expect from undemocratic and third-world countries, not from
a place like this. This is obviously a river of great value
for its biodiversity, and yet you appear to have a government
with so little regard for considering other options.”
Patrick McCully, Executive Director, International Rivers
Network. |
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"The completion of the Mary River dam
would almost certainly push it (the lungfish) to “critically
endangered”, and in the long term will lead to its extinction
in the wild."
Professor Jean Joss in submission to Senate Inquiry 2007 |
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“I have been absolutely staggered by
the lack of transparency involved in this decision-making process.
I have dealt with a lot of state governments and I have dealt
with a lot of non-transparent processes, believe me, but I have
never quite seen anything like this.”
Professor Stuart White in evidence to the Senate Inquiry
April 2007 |
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“It is time the outdated knee-jerk response
of building more dams and water storages was confined to the
history books. As evidence to this inquiry shows, many existing
dams in south-east Queensland have totally failed to deliver
reliable water supplies whilst causing immense environmental
damage. To keep repeating the mistakes of the past is just plain
crazy, particularly when they are such expensive and destructive
mistakes.”
Senator Andrew Bartlett, Additional Comments to Senate Inquiry
Aug 2007 |
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| and a few other quotes of relevance to the campaign |
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“Except for global warming, there has
been no more drastic alteration of the landscape in the last
fifty years than the damming, regulation and diversion of the
world’s rivers. The truth is that dam proponents would
say just about anything to get a dam project approved.”
Daniel Beard, ex-Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, the
US government agency that has built more large dams on more
rivers than any other body anywhere in the world . (as quoted
by Fred Pearce in “When the Rivers Run Dry”) |
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“The Rudd Government will tackle the
water crisis with a national plan to invest in water infrastructure,
sustain our farming communities, revitalise our rivers and waterways,
secure water supplies in our cities and towns and ensure that
we become smarter and more efficient in our water usage. The
Government will invest in greater use of recycled water, desalination
and stormwater.”
From the Prime Minister’s National Plan to solve the
Water Crisis” |
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“In our towns and cities, we must secure
water supplies for current and future needs, including from
a range of new sources that rely less on rainfall given the
clear threat climate change poses to traditional water sources.
A key element of Water for the Future is to work with the States
to develop new sources of water that do not rely entirely on
rainfall.”
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny
Wong, April 2008 |
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“The status of the Australian lungfish
as rare, distinctive and of profound interest to evolutionary
biologists makes its conservation much more important than that
of an attractive species of bird, say, which has many living
relatives. This distinction should be brought to the forefront
in making a decision on the proposed dam.”
Editorial, Nature, International Journal of Science, July
2006 |
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‘Water is finite and making dams won’t
give you more water. The problem was that a lot of water was
wasted and a lot of good agricultural land lost. Let’s
efficiently use water’.
Mikhail Gorbachev, at Brisbane Festival’s Earth Dialogues
forum for resource management and sustainable development |
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