The Queensland government’s plan to solve south-east Queensland’s water problems, in part by building the Traveston and Wyaralong dams, was deeply flawed from the very beginning. Of the many shortcomings in the proposals, three stand out in relation to the matter—the abject failure to properly assess alternatives, the contemptuous treatment of the people whose lives are being devastated and will be affected by these two proposals, and the lack of attention to detailed planning for the projects.

These failures are now fully exposed in the report by the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport. This is not a polemical document. This is a sober, sane, sensible, methodical and systematic assessment of the evidence that came before the committee—