Southern Downs

This letter is the second part of my response to Laurence Springborg's answer to an e-mail I sent to him and a number of other candidates. That initial e-mail which included my response to a questionnaire from the Save the Mary River Brisbane Group I recently sent him. (published on

citizensagainstsellingtelstra.com

(now archived by Australian National Library's Pandora service).)

Dear Lawrence Springborg,

#privatisation" id="privatisation">Privatisation of water, Queensland Rail, electricity generators, etc

In your previous letter to me you omitted to respond to my question:

"Will (you) commit (yourself) now to opposing the privatisation of any of Queensland's water infrastructure during the next three year Parliamentary term?"

I ask this because I perceive there is a serious risk that either your Government, or a returned Bligh Government, will continue past policies of selling off Queensland's family silver as short-term, short-sighted fixes to Queensland's structural fiscal problems. (I would argue that these problems are largely avoidable and caused by the Queensland Government's unnecessary encouragement of population growth.)

As I have argued in documents elsewhere on this site _#main-fn1">1, Contrary to the promises of privatisation proponents, almost every privatisation has been a disaster for the public interest. This includes the privatisation of the SGIO enacted by both LNP and Labor Government's, Telstra_#main-fn2">2, the Dalrymple Bay coal loader_#main-fn3">3, the Golden Casket, Energex, Ergon, TAB, the Commonwealth Bank, QANTAS, etc. etc.

I have also described elsewhere_#main-fn4">4 how I was personally affected by privatisation, when I lived in Warwick in your electorate in 1997. In that year, the Borbidge Liberal National Government effectively privatised the TAFE college computer support services by outsourcing them to UniSys. As an additional consequence, the Warwick TAFE college was forced, in 1998, to sell the Flexi Net Internet Service Provider (ISP) to a private local consortium. Although I had worked extremely hard to build up the service since 1996, and actually saved the business after the transfer, I lost my job soon after. Before long, Flexi Net was sold to the Ipswich-based HaleNet ISP, which, in turn, a few years later was bought out be a Victorian based ISP.

Thus my own career was seriously harmed, the Warwick community lost a local ISP and I have good reason to believe that the Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE (SQIT) lost an opportunity to become the ISP for Southern Queensland.

So, like many other Australians, I know from my own direct experience how harmful privatisation is.

It should therefore come as no surprise that all opinion polls indicate overwhelming public opposition to privatisation. In events chronicled on this site, but poorly reported in the mainstream media, last year, when the NSW Labor Government attempted to privatise the government owned electricity generators, polls showed at one stage 79% public opposition and at another stage 85% public opposition. Fortunately, for the people of NSW the Liberal National Opposition acted in a principled democratic fashion and blocked the privatisation legislation.

I believe that the Queensland public, as the rightful owners of Queensland Government utilities, are entitled to be consulted before any further assets are sold off, in particular, our water utilities, our publicly owned electricity generators, and Queensland Rail (QR).

So, I need to ask you: Will you give your firm categorical assurance that no more publicly owned assets will be sold off in the next term of a Springborg Liberal National Government?

I earnestly hope that this e-mail will cause you to give the firm commitment to Queensland electors that I am seeking. If you are unable to give this commitment, however, then I will consider privatisation to be an issue at stake in these elections. In such case I will maintain that the issue has to be properly discussed before the Queensland electors.

It is my view that the vast majority of Queenslanders opposed to privatisation are entitled to see those who remain in favour of privatisation justify their position. They are also entitled to know which candidates are firmly against privatisation.

If the Liberal National Party cannot categorically rule out privatisation, I will therefore be asking you or another LNP representative to publicly debate this question with me.

I will also be debating this issue with members of the Labor Party, including Treasurer Andrew Fraser at a "meet the candidates" night on Monday 16 March.

Thank you for your attention and thank you again for your reply.

Sincerely,

James Sinnamon

Pro-democracy independent candidate
for Mount Coot-tha

Footnotes

#main-fn1" id="main-fn1">1. #main-fn1-txt">↑ See section "End privatisation - stop the liquidation of Queensland" in "Why I am contesting the Queensland state elections as an independent" of 8 Mar 09.

#main-fn2" id="main-fn2">2. #main-fn2-txt">↑ As convener of Citizens Against Selling Telstra, I campaigned, ultimately unsuccessfully against the full privatisation of Telstra. See citizensagainstsellingtelstra.com. The catastrophe of full privatisation, the latest manifestation being Telstra's planned answer phone rip-off, could have been avoided if Liberal National Senator Barnaby Joyce had simply kept his promise made to Queensland electors in 2005 to oppose privatisation. (see "An open letter to Queensland National Senator Barnaby Joyce" of 12 Sep 05)

#main-fn3" id="main-fn3">3. #main-fn3-txt">↑ See "Costello blasts Dalrymple Bay privatisation" of 22 Mar 09 and "Feds Set to Repeat Australian Failure in Ridley Privatization" (MS Word document) of 26 Oct 05 by John Cummins, Canadian Federal MP about planned privatisation of Ridley Island Coal Terminal. He wrote, "Privatization of Australia's Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal in 2001 has been a disaster the federal government seems determined to impose on Ridley Terminals."

#main-fn4" id="main-fn4">4. #main-fn4-txt">↑ See footnote in "Why I am contesting the Queensland state elections as an independent" of 8 Mar 09.

On 8 March I responded to a questionnaire from the Brisbane Save The Mary River Questionnaire group and sent copies to other candidates contesting the seat of Mount Coot-tha, as well as to Premier Anna Bligh and to Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg. Lawrence Springborg replied on the same day by 12.30PM. His response is below and my response to that is further below.

#Springborg" id="Springborg">Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg's response

Dear Mr Sinnamon

... it is clear that the Labor Government has not followed due process or properly considered the social, environmental and economic implications of building a dam at Traveston Crossing.

Thank you for your email received this morning regarding the proposed Traveston Dam.

The Traveston Dam is a ridiculous proposal, and it is clear that the Labor Government has not followed due process or properly considered the social, environmental and economic implications of building a dam at Traveston Crossing.

In fact, this dam has never been even mentioned in the various water planning reports developed over the past 12 years, and was resoundingly rejected in a 1994 report into possible water supply sources for the Sunshine Coast and Mary Valley.

I fear the Premier only announced this project to be seen to be doing something about the water crisis gripping the rapidly growing south east Queensland region, a crisis the Government created by failing to plan and develop new water supply sources over the past 10 years.

I fear the Premier only announced this project to be seen to be doing something about the water crisis gripping the rapidly growing south east Queensland region ...

I have traveled to the Gympie region on a number of occasions to meet with affected landholders and inspect the proposed dam site.

We have confirmed we would not build the Traveston Crossing dam. In addition, the LNP has a broad ranging plan to fix the water crisis the Labor Government has created by building more appropriate water infrastructure, ensuring more water is recycled and ensuring water is used more efficiently.

The establishment of a desalination plant close to Bribie Island could provide water to South East Queensland at less than half the price of water from the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam and more importantly it would not be dependant on rainfall. Desalination can provide water in two and a half - three years whereas Traveston Dam won't deliver meaningful water supplies until 2013.

Shadow Infrastructure Minister Fiona Simpson and Shadow Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation Minister David Gibson have stated in media releases that the desalination barges proposal proved water could be delivered faster and cheaper than Traveston Crossing Dams.

I invite you to visit www.climateproof.com.au for details of the LNP's Climate Proof and Water Policy.

Thank you for taking the time to bring your views to my attention.

Yours sincerely
Lawrence Springborg
Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the LNP

#Sinnamon" id="Sinnamon">My further response

Dear Lawrence Springborg,

Firstly, I greatly appreciate your very prompt response to my query (in 2hrs 20 minutes).

And thank you for having reaffirmed the Liberal National Party's (LNP) opposition to the Traveston Dam.

Thank you, also, for explaining some of the background to the decision by this Government for its choice of Traveston as the site. According to former Labor MP Cate Molloy the site was chosen, not because it was the most suitable site, but because the affected residents were solid National Party voters and, hence, deemed by this Government to be politically expendable.

The details of the Opposition's proposed alternatives to the Traveston Dam were also most helpful.

However, my own stance is against desalination (which the LNP supports) and against industrial water recycling (which I understand the LNP also opposes) and for more ecologically sustainable solutions. I oppose water recycling and desalination because they are technologically complex, expensive and depend upon the burning of fossil fuels. I believe we should move back to simpler more environmentally friendly technologies such as rainwater tanks and restrictions on water use.

However, any further water restrictions must be made with the clear understanding that they will not be means to allow the Queensland Government to cram even more people into Queensland. Rather they must only be a temporary measure to eliminate any necessity to dam the Mary Valley or Wyaralong in the Beaudesert region or to build any more desalination or recycling plants.

#population">Population growth, the ultimate cause of Queensland's water crises

This brings me, again, to the main point from my previous response to the Save the Mary River Brisbane Group.

Your letter, by implicitly accepting that South East Queensland's population must necessarily continue to grow rapidly, pre-empts the most obvious solution to the water crisis.

If Queensland had not doubled its population to 4 million from 1974 to 2005, there would have been no water crisis. If Queensland's population increases by several more millions in coming years, as your letter implies, further water crises are practically guaranteed.

In fact, it is not predetermined that Queensland's population will continue to grow, rather it is a conscious choice made by governments, in this case, the Queensland and Federal Labor Governments. They could just as easily choose to end population growth.

In fact, it is not predetermined that Queensland's population will continue to grow, rather it is a conscious choice made by governments, in this case, the Queensland and Federal Labor Governments. They could just as easily choose to end population growth.

Every democratic society have the right to decide what its population will be, contrary to what the newspapers and others promoting population growth would have us believe. I believe that choice should be made available to the public at this election.

I therefore ask that you acknowledge the obvious harm caused to Queensland by population growth, not just in regard to our water security, but to our overall quality of life, to our economy, our finances, our natural environment and our long term sustainability. Accordingly, I also ask you to commit an incoming Liberal National Government to reversing the Bligh Labor Government's irresponsible encouragement of population growth.

Population growth doesn't pay for itself. For instance, the building of new infrastructure to provide water for a larger population have cost Queenslanders financially in higher water and council rates.

In my own experience, all the supposed economic arguments in favour of population growth and high immigration have not withstood intellectual scrutiny, for example, in on-line forum discussions. Population growth doesn't pay for itself. For instance, the building of new infrastructure to provide water for a larger population have cost Queenslanders financially in higher water and council rates. Another cost is the massive bill for the state Government's and Brisbane City Council's road, bridge and tunnel building projects, which have been explained as necessary due to past population increases.

If you still have any lingering doubt that further population growth is harmful, I urge you to obtain a copy of Mark O'Connor's Overloading Australia published in 2008. It costs only AU$20.00 and its 184 pages are very easy to read. Almost every conceivable argument in favour of population growth has been challenged and shot down in flames.

I will address the subject of privatisation in another email.

Please also feel welcome, as an alternative to e-mailing me directly, to post further comments in response to this correspondence to my web site here.

Yours sincerely,

James Sinnamon

Pro-democracy independent candidate
for Mount Coot-tha