David French | 16/11/2012 9:47:20 AM

This article was originally published as 'Port' in http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/ on 24 March 2012.Image borrowed from http://www.queensland-australia.com/gladstone-image-tour.html

The detrimental effects of development in our region are front and centre. The fish kills in Gladstone Harbour sent the drama wheel into overdrive, and the results of extensive testing have now been overshadowed by the spectre of CIA involvement. As anyone who has ever had a fish tank will know, the slightest change in the Ph. level of fish habitat will cause disease. Dredging could be a cause, but increased fresh from the floods might also upset the Ph. levels. And people familiar with our Woolwash Lagoon will know there are fish kills there every other year. No-one blames the Winnebago’s parked adjacent, they blame nutrient run-off (could be the same thing but I won’t explore that thought too deeply). Acid Sulphate Soils are already known as a regional problem - Lake Awoonga is probably lined with them.

Negative sentiment around proposed development at Port Alma feeds on the Gladstone hysterics. Most people don’t realise that there are actually three competing proposals for the development at Port Alma. All three are completely different, and only two seem anything but competitive spoilers.

Nobody wants to see extensive damage or redneck change to our beautiful region, but by the same token, we run a real risk of the current buoyant economic conditions passing us by. Consider this – in three years the peak of the resources construction activity will be upon us. The region will move (and already is moving) toward producing more coal. If we don’t align ourselves with production and operations (rather than construction), our immediate region will very likely face recession.

Since peaking in 2003, the annual number of house sales in the local area has fallen by 55 per cent. Prices have remained more or less stable since 2007, but only because stock has been withdrawn from the market by owners who can’t or won’t stomach a loss. Research suggests that if it was not for the contribution of the resources boom, since 2001 our region’s economy would have contracted.

If the benefits to the region from mining and LNG construction start to wane, what will drive growth? It won’t be tourism, education or exports, the high $A will see to that, and retail will be hit as the high income tradies and operators drift away. How will you feel when your house price drops by 30 per cent, and your kids can’t find jobs.

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