Cont…

I drink water from a tank too Yabby…bore water…filtered…and I re-cycle much of our domestic waste-water. There are cost considerations for anyone considering either rainwater or bore water infrastructure for personal use…and instead of supporting and encouraging it…governments around the country are proposing that use of either be charged an additional rate of usage.

…Crikey.com is an interesting reference if you’re suggesting $1Million isn’t a large donation from Westpac, Yabby. I’m sure Stephen Mayne’s (Crikey.com) comments at a Westpac AGM would differ from those you’ve offered. You didn’t list the corresponding taxpayer-funded grants either…how you’ve modified your remarks on donations now…I feel sure that most shareholders would NOT share your largesse regarding political donations of hundreds of thousands or a million $’s.

Your obscene profit declarations for Westpac only emphasises the effects of government policy designer-made for the corporates at the expense of their customers…Australian consumers.

Your simple-mindedness on China, Africa and population issues…explores nothing of the reality in those countries Yabby…you repeatedly attempt to justify your blinkered view to the exclusion of all other factors, e.g., corrupt governments, wars, horrendous infant-mortality rates in Africa and positive results from the introduction of personal ‘ownership’ instead of communist-based total government control in China…

Cue from your surroundings, Yabby and open your mind to include all relevant facts.

Yes Meg, sure Meg, three bags full Meg.

Go on, tell us again that the Haughton River is in any way north of Ayr, or that the Burdekin Dam is in any way west of the lower Burdekin agricultural area, or that it is not west of a point between Proserpine and Mackay.

If we tipped Queensland 90 degrees to the right we would be somewhere near your perception of the world.

This is quite fascinating. I haven’t come across this extent of denial or rationalisation ever before. It is a fully new experience.

Of course there are infrastructure costs involved in putting in
a rainwater tank Meg, but not very much. Given the value of a house,
its not much. Why waste all that runoff and send it out to sea, then
complain about water supplies? Next thing people complain about the
price of water. They should get off their butts and help solve their
own problems, not expect the world to do it for them. Put in a tank,
solve most of your own problems, all very simple really.

I don't care what Crikey wrote, he is chasing an audience, I am not.
Fact is, there were no outrageous figures in that list. Fact is,
to my knowledge nobody complained at the Westpac AGM about political
donations. I'm a Westpac shareholder. IMHO Morgan has done a good
job running Westpac. Yup, his wife is an ex Hawke Govt Minister,
so a donation was made, its trivial in the bigger scheme of things.
See the big picture Meg, not the pimples on your arse :)

Of course infant mortality is high in Africa. If people have far more
children, then they can afford to feed and clothe, kids will die.
If there is no tax base, there is no money for Govts to spend either.
Most people in Africa live off the land, they don't work for corportations and they don't pay tax. So Govts have little to spend.
So kids die, if families cannot grow enough food to feed them and lack of family planning means that they pop them out one a year.

Ludwig,

Population growth doesn’t ‘just happen’. It’s something that happens all the time. It is inevitable and there should not be a problem coping with population growth if there is proper management and adequate investment in water infrastructure.

One of the reasons we have a census every 5 years is to help plan basic services. Regular updates of statictics from ABS are readily available to Government.

The Premier has quoted population growth as one of the prime causes for the water crisis. If he had put some thought into that he might have decided it's not a particularly good argument. But then maybe he doesn't realise there are some people in Queensland who can actually think for themselves.

If you care to do a ‘google’ search with the words "The Population Growth - Highlights and Trends, Queensland 2005" you will be able to read a report on population growth in South East Queensland.

With regard to population growth in Toowoomba, there has been a steady growth pattern since I moved here in 1965. In 1993 the population was 85,000 people. In 2003 it was 92,555. According to the source of those figures, that’s an average growth of 0.8% per annum.

The average growth rate in Queensland was 2% over the same ten-year period. The average annual growth rate for Australia for the five years to 2005 was 1.2%. (ABS)

Amber, you say;

“Population growth….. it’s something that happens all the time. It is inevitable…”

Well I’ll have to beg to differ. I think that one of the key things in the whole water issue, and in all resource-supply issues, and indeed in the bottom-line issue of sustainability…is to NOT think of population growth as a given. It simply HAS to be one of the primary things that we need to mitigate.

What sort of a plan do we have if we just accept that rapid population influx will continue in areas with resource stress, traffic congestion or many other declining quality of life factors? The SEQ Regional Plan will “guide growth and development …over the next two decades”. It makes no attempt to slow the rate of growth or to work towards a limit to population. It makes no attempt to direct Qld towards sustainability.

This crazy mentality of facilitating one of the major factors that is causing us great concern and collective pain is….well, crazy!

The water issue sits right in this paradigm.

“The Premier has quoted population growth as one of the prime causes for the water crisis.”

Yes, which is quite amazing for someone who has promoted population growth in SEQ!

So what is he going to do about mitigating growth? Presumably nothing, which means that every improvement made in water-provision and efficiency of usage will work towards facilitating an ever-bigger population…. which will lead us into more resource-stress issues.

Amber, you may think that a growth rate of 2% in Qld over the last decade is very moderate. But at that rate the population and has grown by more than 22%, or almost a quarter - which is a huge increase in a very short time. And of course the growth rate has been much faster in SEQ.

Ten years ago, we could all be excused for thinking that SEQ had a decent reserve water supply, ie a decent buffer for dry times.

But with just 2% p.a. growth, it has been eroded almost completely. It is any wonder that SEQ is in water-supply crisis?

Woops. In reference to the last line of my last post – the growth rate in SEQ has been well above 2%p.a. for a long time.

So it should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that a decent water buffer only a few years ago has translated into a crisis situation today.

Yes, the so-called drought is a factor. But really, we should have always been prepared for the inevitability of a series of dry years. So the current low rainfall phase should not be seen as the main cause of this situation.