Paradise Dam Legal Case begins Monday 07-09-2009

Paradise Dam Legal Case commencing on National Threatened Species Day

 The legal action launched against Burnett Water Pty Ltd by The Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council (WBBCC), for an alleged breach the approval conditions for Paradise Dam west of Bundaberg, will begin in Brisbane’s Federal Court on Monday.

This legal case argues the suitability of the fish transfer device used at Paradise Dam to protect the QLD Lungfish after a federal government audit revealed that the device was failing to allow lungfish access up and downstream of the dam on the Burnett River. The QLD Lungfish is a federally listed threatened species and ironically the trial begins on National Threatened Species.

WBBCC filed legal action against the dams proponents last October for an alleged breach of approval condition 3 for the dam under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) :“Burnett Water Pty Ltd must install a fish transfer device on the Burnett River Dam suitable for the lungfish. The fishway will commence when the dam becomes operational”.

WBBCC Coordinator Emma-Kate Currie said “After we had contacted the Environment Minister calling for action and received no response, we felt that it was up to us as the local conservation group to investigate this issue in court. We made the decision to initiate legal action and shortly before the filing date, received a response from Minister Garrett containing no commitment to compliance action so we proceeded to file.”

Miss Currie Said “Monday is National Threatened species day and on that day we begin this trial ultimately with the desired outcome of protecting the Lungfish.  They are endemic only to the Burnett and Mary Rivers and currently face an uncertain fate with the Burnett River containing multiple dams and weirs and the Mary River facing the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam.  Queensland Water Infrastructure (QWI) has modelled the Traveston Dam with the same fish transfer device used at Paradise and currently under question in this trial and if it is proven ‘unsuitable’, then it will be back to the drawing board for Traveston.”

The trial is set to begin on Monday expecting to take up to four weeks but legal counsel for Burnett Water filed a ‘notice of motion for adjournment’ late last week and both parties anticipate a decision from Justice Logan on Monday. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                          

Winter Wambaliman

Wambaliman Winter 2009 is now available to view in Colour, please navigate to the Wambaliman Magazine Page. Along side this Edition of Wambaliman you’ll find the full version of the Volunteer Profile featuring WBBCC Life Member, Angus Hutton.

WBBCC Rep heads to Brisbane to present regional issues at Ministerial Round Table.

Next week WBBCC’s Coordinator Emma-Kate Currie, will travel to Brisbane to meet with other Conservation Council reps from QLD at Queensland Conservation Council, to discuss regional issues and form a ‘Joint Groups Priorities Document’ and then head to the Department of Environment and Resource Management QLD(DERM) to outline the current environmental issues occuring within our region at the Ministerial Round Table conference. With any luck, some positive outcomes for our region will occur as a result of this conference.

Latest Wambaliman available to view in Colour.

Wambaliman Autumn 2009 is now available to view in colour. Please navigate to the ‘Wambaliman’ page and have a look. Many thanks again to our Editor Jenny Watts who spends countless hours producing this fantastic magazine. Hardcopies of the Wambaliman should arrive in Members letterboxes next week.

Paradise Dam Photos

Photos of the ‘Fish Transfer Device’ being argued in our legal case are now available to see on ‘WBBCC v Burnett Water’ page.

‘Our Dugong’ Event 6th June

‘Art for Earth’ protests the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam with Candle art. Please see ‘Events’ page for me details.

WBBCC’s Website enters a new phase-over 1000 hits!

Congratulations to WBBCC’s WordPress site which has now had more than 1000 hits. This may seem small by others standards, but we think it is fantastic to see that so many people have viewed our site. So thanks everyone who had a look and if you would like to, provide us with feedback on what you thought of the site and any suggestions on improvement, by posting a comment.

New ‘Donate Button’ for WBBCC.

WBBCC now has a ‘Donate Button’ on this Website thanks to ‘Our Community’. We registered with them and are now listed on their directory. We then applied for a ‘Donate Button’ that can be placed on our website which is a link to ‘ourcommunity.com’ where donations to our Public Fund can be made via credit cards. We greatly appreciate this opportunity that Our Community has given us. For more information about making a donation to the WBBCC Public Fund, please go to our ‘Donate’ page which will provide you with further details.

HEALTHY HABITATS IN THE FRASER COAST REGION

An information brochure on the Healthy Habits programme in the Fraser Coast Region skmbt_c25309041710340

LAND FOR WILDLIFE

A non title binding agreement for landholders , to protect habitat values on your block. 2007-lfw-brochure