Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release  Thursday, 7 February 2013

Craig Isherwood‚ National Secretary
PO Box 376‚ COBURG‚ VIC 3058
Phone: 1800 636 432
Email: cec@cecaust.com.au
Website: http://cec.cecaust.com.au
 

Oswald a patsy for criminal negligence

Citizens Electoral Council Leader Craig Isherwood today accused both state and federal governments of “criminal negligence” for decades of bipartisan refusal to invest in adequate infrastructure. He charged that it is due to criminal negligence that the people of Queensland are presently suffering the devastation of severe floods.

“In these times of tragedy we witness, again in Bundaberg, the destruction of human lives, people’s homes, their livelihoods, and also the destruction of our vital economic infrastructure,” Isherwood said.

“We are again confronted, just two years after the 2011 floods in Queensland, with the consequences of the actions of those in positions of leadership who continue to prop up the currently bankrupt, global monetarist financial system and its associated murderous policies, by refusing to take the necessary potent and real actions to protect human life and valuable physical economic infrastructure from foreseeable risks.

“To me,” he charged, “when looking at the unnecessary carnage, this defines criminal negligence. Another Oswald—this time the ex-tropical cyclone—is made a patsy, blamed for destruction that were it not for criminal negligence, would have been largely avoided.”

Isherwood continued, “Whilst they feign an intention to build, or rebuild, infrastructure in the damaged regions, both the Newman state government and Gillard federal government know that this is impossible in the present monetary system, which is drowning in unpayable debt. They also know, that within a year, maybe two or even ten, we will face the same threat of destruction again—and again in the same area! By then they may have made some cosmetic changes, but they have no real will to provide adequate infrastructure for the general welfare of the people, because they refuse to break from the chains of this monetarist system. They are more committed to budget surpluses and triple-A credit ratings from criminal ratings agencies, than to long-term public investments into crucial infrastructure.

“Ex-cyclone Oswald, and the grossly under-estimated $2.4 billion damage it caused was not an exception to the type of weather capable of hitting the east coast of Australia, but should be regarded as the norm. In 1992, when I was farming near Hervey Bay, a tropical depression hit the area, dumping 350mm overnight. All appropriate measures must be taken to deal with the rainfall, and the associated flooding.”

Isherwood elaborated the infrastructure ideas from the CEC’s three point program:

1. Introduce the Glass-Steagall reforms now being called for internationally to rid the current banking system of the huge mountain of unpayable fictitious debt and save the banking system.
2. Create a National Bank, such as the Commonwealth National Credit Bank that the CEC has written the legislation for, to emit large amounts of new credit to:
3. Build (and rebuild) the great infrastructure projects necessary to both protect and develop the nation.

A National Bank would issue the necessary credit to fund the dams and levees required to actually solve the problem of flooding. Many more dams must be built around the country that combine the functions of flood mitigation, irrigation and hydro-electricity generation to serve cities, towns and farms. Essentially, this means that the dams may be required to be left half-full for flood mitigation purposes, and the hydro-electricity may be inactive for periods of time. However, the dams will be larger to allow for both irrigation and flood mitigation. For example, if the Paradise Dam on the Burnett River had been built to its original specifications [see below], even half-full it would hold more water than it does now. (It would be necessary to ban water trading across Australia, which turns water into a commodity for speculators to profit from, so that dams are no longer built solely for storing water to sell at a premium to irrigators.)

Clarence River System NSW

The late Prof. Lance Endersbee designed a series of large pump-storage dams for the head waters of the Clarence River, from which Grafton narrowly escaped flooding last week. These dams would take around 20 per cent of the river flows, and through a series of hydro-electric stations lift and pump water over the Great Dividing Range into the Murray-Darling Basin system. Building these very cost-effective dams (as the country in this region comprises very steep gullies) would provide added capacity to prevent flooding in the lower lying areas.

Burnett River System

The Burnett Catchment above Bundaberg is the third largest catchment in the country. The Paradise Dam was initially designed to hold 750,000 megalitres (or a capacity of one Sydney Harbour) at a cost of $247 million, but was finally built less than half the size at 300,000 ML.

Given that two Sydney Harbours of water tore through Bundaberg during the height of the latest flood, and the Burnett River was spilling 6.9m above the Paradise Dam, it is clear that the only course of action now is to engineer a flood mitigation program, comprising many larger hydro-electric dams to capture the water and mitigate potential flood flows; build levees around towns below the dams at pre-specified levels knowing that the dams will be able to regulate river flows; and use the latest flood mapping and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to determine the areas to set aside because of too high a risk of flooding even with all the mitigation measures taken. Projects of this size are unaffordable for the local councils in the region, but with credit from a National Bank a top down co-ordinated, basin-wide approach can be taken.

The Dawson Scheme

The Dawson Scheme was originally planned as a $3 billion scheme to include a power station and railway lines, but this project has shrunk to only include the much smaller and still-to-be-built Nathan Dam. Less than 10 per cent of the Dawson River, which regularly floods Rockhampton and other towns in the region, is harnessed in dams and weirs. Whilst still claiming to be committed to building the Nathan Dam, the Queensland government is hampered by excessive green-tape, and the usual excuse of lack of funds.

Isherwood concluded, “These project ideas demonstrate it is possible to take measures to protect life and property. Political leaders who make excuses not to take these measures are criminally negligent. Australians who want to take charge of their future should join the CEC and fight to turn these ideas into reality.”