Cranky Queenslander

I was flipping through my "Road Ahead" the other day, and game across a smaller article on page 58 by Jon Dee, the founder and chairman of Planet Ark. In it he talks about the prospects for moving to hydrogen to power our cars and other transport options.

He restates what everyone knows; That to get there we need someone to push out hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, and we need a clean source of hydrogen. He goes on to point out that the University of NSW has developed a solar powered system for generating hydrogen from sea water.

In fact, the University has been saying this for a while, I found a press release from 2004 about it.

We also have the team over at Hydrexia, who are working to improve on our storage techniques for hydrogen.

It could be a technology that not only free’s us from the shackles of the oil industry, but if we get there first, could be a big winner for Australia’s economy. It could be, if we would fund it properly.

Sadly, nobody at the top is listening, which is why today I am writing to the Federal Environment minister to get his excuses for why there has been no announcement on developing hydrogen as a fuel since he got the job. You never know, we might get lucky.

Recently in Collingwood Park the unthinkable happened. Old coal mine shafts underneath the suburb collapsed, causing severe damage to more than a dozen homes. The collapse will likely result in some of those houses having to be demolished.

These are cherished family homes, built and bought by people who trusted the state government when it said it was fine to build there. I’m hoping these home owners are getting legal advice, because if this happened to me, I’d be wanting my day in court to have the government explain why they did this.

Its about time that our state government realised that it is elected to help the people, not profit from them. Sanctioning a housing development on top of an old coal mine without doing something like collapsing the old mine shafts first, is just a cheap money grab.

Cr Paul Tully has lost the plot with his comment that the state government should be commended for its response to the issue. You’re kidding right Paul? The state government should be condemned for continuing to sell off land without rehabilitating it first. It would also be nice if he published maps of the affected areas with a few clues as to where they are; Just put one street name on the map Paul, and we’d know whats what!

I invite anyone affected by the issue to leave a comment and let me know how you personally are dealing with it, and what the state government is actually doing to help you.

Local residents and business owners in the western suburbs are probably aware by now of the plans by our State Government to close the Bullockhead St entrance to the Sumner Park Industrial Estate.

I don’t normally have much sympathy for people who have a whinge about new and improved roads, (which reminds me, I should have a go at the whinger on Ipswich Road) but in this case I think the locals are spot on.

I have friends and clients with businesses in that area, and having only the entrance on Spine St to get in and out will be a bad thing for traffic congestion in the area. There is a planned exit to be built onto Wolston Road, but this is not scheduled until 2010!

State member for Mt Ommaney, Julie Attwood, reckons the solution is an urgent upgrade of the Spine St & Sumner Rd intersection, while Main Roads claim they are "working with council to fast track the second exit project"

Instead of all this talk, Julie should get her government to do something about this right now.