Greens will stop Traveston Dam: Ronan Lee

Greens MP for Indooroopilly, Ronan Lee, today visited residents and representatives of community groups at the Sunshine Coast and Gympie to discuss the future of the controversial Traveston Dam.

Mr Lee said the Greens had always opposed the proposed dam because of its undoubtedly devastating effects on productive farmland, its potential impacts on endangered species like the lungfish, its impacts on the lower reaches of the Mary River and the Great Sandy Straits and because there were viable alternatives for SE Queensland.

Mr Lee said the Greens believed the forthcoming state elections would be the closest for many years with Labor and LNP running neck-and-neck and the Greens vote on the rise.

''We believe the next election will be very close and the Greens have a good chance of having the balance of power in the next parliament'', Mr Lee said.

''If that is the case, we would want to know which of the other parties would stop the Traveston Dam before we agreed to support either of them as the next government of Queensland.''

Mr Lee said the Greens would be taking to the next election a policy promise of free rain water tanks for every household in SE Queensland, beginning with pensioners.

''If the state government has hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on destructive infrastructure like the Traveston Dam, let us see them spend it instead on more useful projects like rainwater tanks for every household,'' Mr Lee said.

''The premier might not be able to open these in a hard hat but it would be a far more sensible and sustainable way of spending public money.''

For further information:  Drew Hutton 0428 487 110