Sale of the century

No it’s not Tony Barber and the lovely Delvene Delaney.  It’s Mayor Vic Pennisi on ABC Southern Queensland on 29 April.

When interviewed by David Iliffe, Mayor Pennisi stated that Council will be “able to seasonally assign [town water] if it’s times like this and someone needs some water we can sell.”

Maybe the Mayor didn’t quite think this through.  While I know this line has also been trotted out by Councillor Tancred, it may not be an idea that they’ve thought through properly. 

Why?  Because *APPARENTLY* the whole idea of Council needing to invest in Emu Swamp Dam is to drought-proof Stanthorpe.  You don’t drought-proof a town by selling its water supplies in good years.  You need to save that water for the bad years, right?

That water is town water.  It shouldn’t be seen by the Mayor and Councillor Tancred as something they can trade to “someone” who might need it.  That would change the water from town water (which is not allowed to be used for irrigation) to irrigation water.  This goes against the basic principles of water planning in both Queensland and the Murray Darling Basin.

How will the people in the town feel when, come the next drought, they find out the water that was meant to drought-proof them, and that they’re paying for with an increase in their rates, has already been sold to a local irrigator?  Ripped off I reckon, and a good deal of them will probably find the whole thing on the nose. 

I don’t even want to imagine how Council would propose to deal with issues of conflicts of interest in becoming a water trader in the area.  Because I think we all know how that would play out.  Yes, exactly.

PS.  For those of you looking at the Council’s draft budget, the fees paid for expert advice, during the term of the current Council, on Emu Swamp Dam are now more than $140,000.  Something to think about when that rates increase shows up on your next bill …