Sunday saw a much anticipated debate at the Strathalbyn Hall. Andrew Castrique, Democrats, hosted this forum to give the public a chance to hear from the candidates. Lynton Vonow (Greens), Andrew Castrique (Democrat), Jamie Briggs (Liberal), David McCabe (DLP), Bob Day (Family First), Bill Spragg (Independent) and Independent Di Bell, showed up to give an account of their policies in three minutes, followed by questions from the floor.
Di spoke last and distilled the comments made by the others into a simple formula: H2O.
- * Here and now we need water.
- * 2 many promises: consultation, buy back, water proofing.
- * Over-allocation: we need a national body to administer the whole system.
Di explained these were the short, middle and long terms goals.
Di then spoke of the conceptual confusion for those who think of the River as a commodity to be traded and those, like herself, who understand it as a living body.
She called on Mayo electors to send a strong message to Canberra that we will not allow the river and Lakes to die on our watch.
The River, Lakes and Coorong Action Group had their model of the proposed Pomanda Island weir on display. This was built in March 2007 and has proved an excellent way to demonstrate clearly the dangers of damming the river below Wellington.
The questions from the audience were lively and the report in the Australian the next day suggested that Di, the “surprise package” had captured their attention.
Mayo candidates jockey for votes as saviours of the Murray - The Australian
