Bass Coast council quits desal talks

The seven-member Bass Coast Shire Council, on whose land the Victorian Labor government plans to build a $3.1 billion desalination plant, voted on March 19 to drop its support for the project. In a March 20 media release, council CEO Allan Bawden said that \"the lack of transparency, consultative processes and numerous unresolved issues has left the council with no alternative\".

Bawden said that the council was calling for a memorandum of understanding with the government before resuming discussions. The March 21 Melbourne Age reported that the council is demanding to see \"comparative data\" on why desalination was the government's preferred option.

The anti-desalination group Your Water Your Say (YWYS) has launched a Melbourne campaign group. Convener Mike
Neighbour told Green Left Weekly: \"The biggest concerns for the people of Melbourne would be the amount of carbon emissions. Everybody is very aware of the global warming implications if we don't drastically reduce emissions and this plant is a carbon factory. The other big issue is the price of water and the fact that Victorians will be held ransom to foreign water companies forever."

To contact the Melbourne YWYS group phone Mike on 0417 374 439.

From GLW issue 745