couriermail articles, page-8

Tucker

You raise known sensible facts ... and that is always reassuring to a degree.

Campbell has it in his power to satisfy all stakeholders over Kingaroy whilst also gaining considerable political capital imo.

He could imo do all of the following:

1. Recognise there is considerable political opportunity in having a close look into what happened at Kingaroy in that there is confluence of questionable actions and gross over-reactions by his politcal opponents (independent member and labor party) and regulators, a likely miscarriage of justice against Cougar, potentially less than subtle influence from the CSG sector

2.Declare policies for cleaner energy and future energy security in Qld, particularly stating that his govt will support innovation in the fields of greener, scalable energy

3. Declare a formal review of the ISP brief and findings

4. Declare a formal review of the actions of DERM and major public figures, including the incumbent idependent state member over Kingaroy

If it turns out there is substance to the claims in Point 1. above, the course for Campbell is clear. He can:

1. Factually report that Cougar at no time posed threats to human health and the environment and make that information freely available to the good folk in Kingaroy and that compensation and/or concessions are due to the company (this represents no skin off his nose)

2. Publicly damn his political apponents for their actions and misuse of process over Cougar and even perhaps ridicule them for the folly of being potentially unduly influenced by likely representations from the CSG industry over UCG

3. Criticise his political apponents for a decade completely lacking any foresight into the future energy security and needs of Qld and state his govts intention for a complete review of such issues

Imo, Kingaroy represents opportunity for Campbell to anchor a multi-pronged campaign of issues the current govt will struggle to deal with.

Dex