12:00a.m. 7th June 2008

| By Bill Hoffman

A rising tide of anger against the Bligh government’s decision to force the rapid growth of greenfields on the Sunshine Coast could see direct community action that would outstrip the massive Tollbuster campaign of the early 1990s.

An emergency meeting of 16 regional community groups expected to be held in the next two weeks may be the first step in a campaign to rival the successful protest against road tolls here and, later, anger at Noosa’s forced amalgamation and the Traveston dam.

The Tollbuster campaign against the tolling of the Sunshine Motorway and the Maroochy River bridge was a factor in the ultimate defeat of the Wayne Goss-led Labor government of the time.

The Organisation of Sunshine Coast Associations of Residents has canvassed its 16 member associations to back a public meeting to protest against state government moves this week to drive another 75,000 people into the region in the short term.

OSCAR spokesman Peter Bryant said the Sunshine Coast needed to mount a Tollbuster-style campaign to convince Premier Anna Bligh she was out of step with the community.

The Sippy Downs and District Community Association has also invited Deputy Premier Paul Lucas to front a meeting on June 17 which will drive a petition to have the state government back off until it can guarantee all the hard and social infrastructure to support the growth is in place.

Association president Murray Lyons said his group was not anti-development but wanted to see a guarantee of infrastructure not only to meet the future demand but also current need.

He said residents were already stuck in daily traffic jams which would only worsen, with the Palmview South site nominated for fast-track approval only accessible through Chancellor Park.

The Sippy Downs association has launched a petition protesting at the decision and seeking a guarantee from the government that no greenfield site be brought online “before appropriate infrastructure and community facilities have been provided, including direct access to main roads and public transport, additional public hospital facilities and schools; and all normal planning processes have been completed, including environmental assessments and traffic impact studies”.

There is real anger at the government’s snubbing of Sunshine Coast Mayor Bob Abbot’s election platform promise to make the region a national model for sustainability and to bring growth back in line with the national average.

However, Sunshine Coast Environment Council head Ian Christesen says the community should save its breath with a government that ignores their opinion.

Yesterday, he was advocating that the council simply refuse to co-operate and instead tell Ms Bligh that if she wanted to fast-track development applications then the state government should do the work.

“The council is on a hiding to nothing,’’ Mr Christesen said.

“They can’t achieve what she has demanded.

“Instead of six months down the track having Ms Bligh come in saying the council wasn’t up to it and taking over the work already done, let her do it from scratch. And in the process tell her if she wants council planning documents she can go through FOI.”

Mr Christesen said the government has had the Urban Land Development Authority Act since September last year to address housing affordability, and identified sites they were to fast-track – Bowen Hills, Northshore Hamilton, Fitzgibbon, Wooloongabba and Mackay show grounds.

“According to their website www.ulda.qld.gov.au, only the first two, Bowen Hills and NorthShore Hamilton, have started any meaningful planning and have timeframes of delivery at February 2009, one and a half years after they had the Act in place.

“The other sites have not even got a draft up and still have no timeframes for delivery.

“They will not be able to deliver.”

Mr Bryant said it was clear the state government had forced amalgamation to get a pro-development rubber-stamp council.

He said Ms Bligh had been caught out by a community that had other values, an opinion expressed at local government elections across the state which expressed a pro-community vote.

“The mayor’s approach is a breath of fresh air,’’ he said.

“We want a public meeting as soon as we can get it and want public support.”