The Moreton Bay Campaign Trail
Our Campaign trail started when the Healthy Waterways report confirmed the ongoing decline of Moreton Bay was due to sediment from damaged waterways. An independent economic survey then revealed that it was cheaper to repair the damage than doing nothing! We wanted to see a fully funded and coordinated plan set up to improve waterway health from the top of the catchment to Moreton Bay. We wanted our politicians to see how precious Moreton Bay is to the people of SEQ — and how threatened it is. We wanted to make sure that the Queensland Government is in no doubt that there is an effective solution — and it’s cheaper than doing nothing.
While election candidates were drumming up support Queensland Conservation was concentrating on getting Moreton Bay on to their political radars.
The Launch
It was a beautiful February morning at Wellington Point. Moreton Bay was serene and still as residents, Redland City Councillors and state election candidates gathered to hear Queensland Conservation's Executive Director, Toby Hutcheon, and Chairperson, Simon Baltais, speak about the need to save Moreton Bay.
The Markets
With our trusty mascot Dewey the Dugong helping to break the ice we attended markets in Bayside suburbs from Redcliffe to Cleveland to spread the word about the threats to Moreton Bay and the simple solutions available.
In just six weekends we collected around 2000 signatures from local residents supporting a plan for restoring waterway health to save the Bay. Not surprising as the Bayside markets were full of people who live, work and play on the Bay. At West End markets all it took was a quick glance at the sediment-laden river running by to make people enthusistic about signing!
Our online petition more than doubled the number of signatures and Premier Newman has received every single one.
The Breakfast
More than 100 stakeholders attended our Save Moreton Bay Breakfast. After an introduction to the declining health of the Bay by UQ's Professor Hugh Possingham the two main political parties had the opportunity to respond to our concerns. The ALP and the LNP both pledged support — but remained disappointingly tight-lipped about their policy agendas.
One member of the audience suggested that if the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then Moreton Bay policy had been insane for a long time.
The Brochure & the Billboard
In the two weeks before the election we fired off a salvo of 50,000 brochures in Bayside local papers to alert residents to the threats to our Bay.
We followed that up with a mobile billboard (carbon neutral of course!) travelling the length of the Bay, with stops at Parliament and the ALP conference at Southbank, to remind people what they would lose if Moreton Bay continues to decline as expected.
The Politicians and the Dugong
On the last weekend before the election Dewey the dugong and a human helper visited candidates in most of the Bayside constituencies to ask for their support. Some spoke to us willingly and signed our petition, some were a little harder to catch...
After the state elections we also contacted the Mayoral candidates for each council in the Moreton Bay catchment and asked them to support the Bay. Around a third of those standing responded positively to our request.
What Now?
As the dust settles our campaign has put saving Moreton Bay on the public agenda. But there’s still no commitment to a funded and coordinated plan.
Both State and local governments now know there is a broad groundswell of support for the Bay, but we still await genuine action.
There are 10 key activities that will contribute to saving the bay. All depend upon a coordinated plan supported by all three tiers of government, water utilities and those whose activities contribute to pollution.
The first target is to achieve an actual reduction in pollution by 2014. As things stand now that is not going to happen.
This is unacceptable.
Queensland Conservation will continue campaigning until this changes.
Thank You!
It is impossible to run a campaign like this without the help and input of many people and organisations. Queensland Conservation is grateful to SEQ Catchments for partnering with us and sponsoring the breakfast forum.
Thanks go to our incredibly generous supporters who donated over $20,000 to the campaign.
And thank you to the 4,000 people who signed a petition at a market or online. Premier Newman has received every single one.
