saveeumundi.org

The Bligh Government is clearly still ignoring local communities on a whole range of issues from energy to water and the environment. Despite Anna Bligh saying that she was listening to community concerns and that she will be there for us, the Bligh Government’s actions and inactions speak louder than words.

PAGE has asked the Bligh Government for “a clear statement that the Sunshine Coast’s future energy needs be delivered via renewable energy and demand management providing the Bligh Government with a clear opportunity to show it is serious in tackling energy provision in an environmentally responsible manner – the last week of this election gives the Government the perfect opportunity to do this.”

Ever since the CEO of Powerlink wrote to Mr. Geoff Wilson, Minister for Mines and Energy suggesting that PAGE were “deceitful and dishonest”, PAGE have had disappointment after disappointment in their dealings with the Minister. No answers to the questions raised in our letter (dated 20 February 2008) to Mr. Wilson have been received. After 6 months of waiting the Minister finally afforded PAGE a meeting, at which PAGE were told to come up with an alternative within only 4 weeks. The other concerns of the community, raised in our meeting with the Minister regarding the consultation and environmental impact assessment have also been ignored.

With all the resources at the DME and Powerlink’s disposal, it was left for the small community group to come up with a proposal. This proposal was submitted but the reply from the Minister does little to inspire confidence that the Minister and his department are interested in delivering any solution other than Powerlink’s pre-determined power line proposal.

It is also disappointing to see ALP campaign rhetoric once again referring to Queensland as aspiring to be “the solar state” of Australia, yet we continue to see little willingness to progress towards achieving this goal, when there is a solar option on the table that could be further developed to meet their needs.
PAGE has been asking the government to look at alternatives to Powerlink business as usual proposal since August 2007 – 18 months later they are still dragging their heels when they have an active and engaged community wishing to help find solutions to the energy requirements of the Sunshine Coast, and where the Sunshine Coast Regional Council have a mandate for cleaner greener alternatives.

Queensland, despite the rhetoric, lags well behind other countries and is a long way behind New South Wales in implementing clean energy alternatives, demand management and feed-in tariffs.

For more information on the alternatives and the campaign to date visit PAGE’s website www.saveeumundi.org