Clarence River now safe from water raiders

The Howard Government was soundly defeated at the Australian federal election last night, with outgoing Prime Minister John Howard tipped to be ousted by Labor in the seat he has held since first entering parliament.
The Nationals look like going into Opposition, along with their coalition partner the Liberal Party, with a reduced number of regional and rural seats.
The NSW Northern Rivers now has two of its three elected federal representatives drawn from the Australian Labor Party which gave a firm commitment earlier this year not to dam and divert waters from the Clarence River catchment area.

To see how the local political battle played out got to North Coast Voices:
http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/

More than three thousand Clarence Valley residents petition NSW Parliament

A petition signed by more than 3,000 Clarence Valley residents was tabled in the NSW Parliament by the NSW Minister for Lands, Tony Kelly, on 8 November 2007.

The minister called on the Howard Goverment to clarify its position on damming the Clarence River before people in the Clarence Valley go to vote at the Federal Election on 24 November.

"There still remains a deep concern among residents of the Clarence Valley that the dam and diversion of water to Queensland proposed by the Federal Coalition will go ahead. That concern has been fuelled by the Coalition's ambiguous position and their continual muddying of the waters about their true position on the dam........Dam the Clarence and the fishing industry, one of the largest industrires in the region, would be decimated." [The Daily Examiner,Grafton,"Clarence no-dam petition tabled in NSW Parliament",12 November 2007,p.5]

Clarence River diversion still a hot potato in election year

Despite every indication to the contrary, the Federal Coalition continues to deny its plan to raid Clarence River catchment water.
See link:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22689001-30417,00.html

Last Wednesday Kevin Rudd challenged Messrs Howard and Turnbull on the dam issue. Mr. Turnbull's response was that his pledge not to dam the Oxley River, in another valley further north, really meant the Clarence as well. [The Daily Examiner, Grafton,"Turnbull's dam idea dumb: Rudd",2 November 2007,p.5].

I saw a copy of Mr. Turnbull's letter to the Nationals candidate for Richmond concerning the Oxley River. To put it baldly - Malcolm Turnbull lies.

Is Tenterfield trying to create a local dam in order to raid the Clarence River?

According to the Clarence Environment Centre, Tenterfield Shire Council continues its plans for a dam on the Mole River, a relatively small unregulated river with no existing water gauges and no legislated environmental flow.

After a representative of the Centre recently visited the area and spoke with Tenterfield Shire Council's General Manager, suspicions remain that this new dam proposal might be a second front in the water raiders' efforts to steal Clarence River freshwater.

No evidence could be found to justify the proposed 500 gigalitre dam capacity based on apparently moderate flows within the Mole River's approximately 200 square kilometre catchment.
To keep this dam filled and capable of passing water through to the Murray-Darling river system as intended, a second water source is likely to be required.

Tenterfield Shire Council is on record as wanting an interbasin transfer from the Clarence River catchment involving similar volumes of water to that proposed for this new dam.

See link:
http://tenterfield.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/taking-mole-river-dam-bid-to-state-cabinet/1079066.html

What Australia' failure to come to grips with climate change is leading to

An elderly Sydney man was severely beaten and later died after a dispute over water use.

See link:
 http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22683984-1702,00.html