Fear and loathing in the valley
Tue 22 May 2007
Grant Reynolds, Journalism
Mary Valley residents told of bullying, stand-over tactics and harassment at the hands of departmental staff during the Senate Inquiry into the Traveston Crossing Dam in Gympie.
The hearing heard personal matters, including accounts of businesses that had been ruined and livelihoods shattered after the dam proposal was announced in 2006.
State Nationals Member for Gympie David Gibson wept when he told how one resident was reduced to tears after a visit from Queensland Water Infrastructure (QWIPL) staff.
Mr Gibson alleged QWI staff took a look around the house and said “It’s not much is it.”
“I’m absolutely disgusted with the dealings of people in this electorate,” Mr Gibson said.
Senator Heffernan asked Mr Gibson if he had raised the issue in State Parliament.
Mr Gibson said so far he had not received satisfactory answers.
QWI – the body responsible for buying land from residents for the dam – had offered some residents 30 to 50 per cent below the private valuation of their homes.
The first stage of the project will require the resumption of 332 properties and 76 homes spread through 3,000 hectares of land.
Mr Gibson rubbished the Deputy Premier Anna Bligh’s claims Mary Valley residents were holding south-east Queensland to ransom by resisting the dam.
He said people affected by the dam’s construction would be prepared to walk off their land - if the Mary Valley was the right place for a dam.
Ken Campbell from Lifeline said QWI had bullied some residents into selling up.
“They are selling because of the pressure. It’s a hardball game. They are feeling bullied and dictated to by QWI,” Mr Campbell said.
Inquiry member, National’s Senator Barnaby Joyce, attempted to sum up the situation saying the uncertainty surrounding the dam was like sitting in a car heading towards an accident and being helpless to stop.
“Senator, the other car is ramming us,” local pastor Rev Iain Watt said.
Inquiry Chair, Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan, raised the ire of the gallery when he said they had to look for positives during adversity, a theme the Senator repeated throughout the day.
“You make me gloomy listening to you, you’ve got to look at the positive signs,” he said.
The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee is holding two days of public hearings.
The inquiry received nearly 200 submissions ranging from landowners to environmental groups – with only one in favour of the dam.
That submission came from the State Government.
A number of submissions – including a report by Professor Stuart White from the Institute for Sustainable Futures – criticised the Beattie Government for its perceived planning failures.
The hearing continues in Brisbane today.
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