Face the facts

So the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport committee has been sprung treating Clarence Valley residents like mushrooms [DEX,29.05.07,Inquiry Shuns Valley].
I was contacted by a Liberal senator on this committee after I wrote to complain.
He explained the failure to advertise in Clarence Valley media was an unfortunate oversight.
He went on to say that south-east Queensland needed water for its projected growth - that many people were saying: "Don't take our water for a dam, take water from the Clarence Valley".
The senator also told me that Malcolm Turnbull was a good man. That he had about a thousand head of cattle and rode a horse with some skill.
The senator repeatedly posed the question: where will the water come from to flush toilets?
Well, committee senators one and all, its time to face the facts.
Your alleged oversight has severely limited the Clarence Valley population's ability to access and inform this inquiry.
No matter how one skirts around the water issues involved, some unpalatable truths remain.
Queensland toilets are that state's responsibility.
Queensland's desire to pursue unsustainable growth should not be at the expense of Clarence Valley potential for sustainable growth. Nor should that state's economic ambitions be allowed to cripple our local economy.
And, it doesn't matter how many millionaires sit a saddle well - their brains are not supposed to be touching saddle leather when they mount.

JUDITH M. MELVILLE

["The Daily Examiner", Grafton,5 June 2007,p.8]