Garretts ruling leaves foes in awe | Gympie Environment | Environmental News in Gympie

Conservative politicians maybe, but Alex Somlyay and Barnaby Joyce were quick to heap praise on Peter Garrett after his press conference yesterday.

“REMEMBRANCE Day 2009 will be remembered for a long long time.”

With those words, Alex Somlyay, whose Fairfax federal electorate once included Gympie, promised he would remember forever the integrity and moral courage of his political foe, Labor Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

While Queensland Premier Anna Bligh remained a major exception, Mr Somlyay and Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce were among the first to respond to Mr Garrett’s “No Dam” announcement, expressing within minutes their open admiration for Mr Garrett.

Sen Joyce went further, saying Ms Bligh now has no choice but to step down as Premier and explain “why she pursued with such venom something so destructive and which would not have worked at all.”

David Gibson said he was moved to tears by the unexpected news.

“I have a mate with an autographed Midnight Oil T-shirt which he was intending to burn this afternoon,” he said from Parliament House yesterday.

“Now my mate can keep his shirt and I’m going to buy a couple of old Midnight Oil CDs that I’ve always liked.”

“Good on him,” said Greens leader Bob Brown. “It reminds me of another dam (the Franklin) 25 years ago in Tasmania.”

“This is a great resolution for the Mary River,” Sen Joyce told media in the hall outside the crowded conference room where Mr Garrett had just made his historic announcement.

“It’s also a great resolution from the Senate Inquiry,” he said, claiming that the inquiry, criticised at the time as a political stunt, had been the first chance to prove the flaws “in this ridiculous proposal.”

“Now we can help the people of the Mary Valley get back to some normalcy.

“I’m going to thank the Minister for his decision. It should give us great confidence that the legislation is working.

“It was introduced by the Howard Government in 1999.

“Peter Garrett has acted impeccably,” he said.

“People power has won this issue,” Sen Joyce said.

“I say to Anna Bligh: ‘You have lost the plot. You have become disarticulated from the people of Queensland.

“You have only one alternative Anna and that is to stand down.”

At the other end of town, anti-dam activists including Save the Mary Group officials Glenda Pickersgill and David Kreutz were outside the Federal Court, supporting action against the State Government over failed environmental safeguards on the Paradise Dam.