Monday, January 17, 2011

Brisbane flood post-mortem

It is disturbing to read in the Australian, Alarming report on Brisbane River risks covered up, about how a 1999 report to the city council was kept secret until it was leaked years later. Why the secrecy? Too many developers and real estate agents wanted to make money by building and selling on low-lying land.....

Another article, Toowoomba was a disaster waiting to happen has some interesting text:
Her eyes searched my face when she told me she had prayed to God last night and asked why he would allow such a thing to happen in a place like this: why, she said, would a good and loving God take innocent mothers and children away when they only went for a drive to the shop?
.....God had nothing to do with this. Generations of city councillors, engineers, landscapers and developers were quite capable of doing it by themselves...

Forget the models and the movie stars: the developers are the real celebrities in this city. With a rapidly growing population, Toowoomba is always keen to create more jobs.
A few months ago, the Anna Bligh state government announced plans to build an industrial park on the site of a major creek system at Wellcamp Downs, about 14km west of Toowoomba. The development is designated for toxic, hazardous and hard-to-locate industries...
At a recent community forum, a member of the public pointed out to several of the city councillors in attendance that it would be both very foolish and highly dangerous to move industries into such a delicate environment - the headwaters of a creek system that flows directly into the Murray-Darling system. The city councillors became clearly angry at this suggestion and quickly tried to dismiss fears with a cursory "Toowoomba needs jobs" and "progress is good for our town".
The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil...  God has given us freedom to choose how we live and unfortunately our sinful actions often lead to the suffering of others.

1 comment:

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