Which way will it run ..

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Which way will it run?

By Steven Wardill

29 July 2006

In halting prose filled with emotion, an elderly man rose before a packed Empire Theatre to thank Clive Berghofer, a man synonymous with Toowoomba development.

"We want to say a heartfelt thank-you to Clive Berghofer for his unbelievable support to our fight to stop water coming into Toowoomba for drinking that has come from sewerage treatment works.

Good on you Clive," said 83-year-old retired chemist Ernie Noack, expressing deep gratitude shared by the 1000 people who had gathered in the picturesque range city's art deco theatre to hear the case against recycling effluent into the water supply.

The meeting, in the final week of the referendum campaign which has put the city on the international map, was far more popular than a similar "yes" case event several blocks away.

Reports suggested no more than 11 people turned up to hear how recycling could be a cost-efficient means of topping up the parched city's water supply.

Run by the office of the Mayor, the colourful Di Thorley, the "yes" case has cost close to $460,000.

But it may all be for nothing. For the high-profile "no" case has Berghofer.

In political campaigning terms, Berghofer is an invaluable asset.

To Toowoomba residents, a city renowned for its conservative ways, for its family-friendliness and its natural beauty, he is a saviour.

For them, he is the man with the courage to stand up and be counted, to fight for the right of Toowoomba not to be used as a petrie dish for what he sees as a scientifically untested case for recycling.

He's also the man who spent $40,000 of his own – albeit considerable wealth – on his public campaign.

Immensely popular, the power he wields is borne of his "salt-of-the-earth" commitment to the community, in money and in kind.

After moving to the city as a young man and creating a construction and later development business, he amassed a personal $280 million fortune – all of which, he says, is invested in Toowoomba.

If he wanted to he could, he insists, sell up and live on the $20 million a year he estimates he could make in interest.

Toowoomba has been good to him, he says, and he in turn has been good to Toowoomba, giving away $50,000 a week to sports clubs, hospitals, schools and community groups. He also gives to needy individuals, preferring to hear such requests for aid in person, rather than receiving written applications.

"No person or corporation can come anywhere near to Clive for donations to organisations, institutions, charities and also individuals who have come to him for help. I myself have experienced his kind generosity," Noack said at the meeting this week.

"We know his enormous store of experience and knowledge and he is well qualified to talk about solutions to this awful crisis with water, that are both viable and cost-allowable."

It's been a feisty campaign, but Berghofer is confident the "no" vote will win, based on the response to a four-page paper he published which has drawn hundreds of responses.

"Some who were 'yes' voters have changed their mind and others who were undecided are voting 'no'," he said.

The simple truth is no one really knows what the majority thinks about recycled water, because no one has asked. Until now. That's why the Toowoomba vote has such significant implications for state and national politics.

Premier Peter Beattie surprised many Labor people this week when he declared his support for adding recycled water to drinking supplies and suggested he would seek an election mandate to do just that.

This came only weeks after he insisted recycling water was only an "Armageddon solution". His statement on Wednesday galvanised Queensland's political landscape into two distinct camps with the Coalition opposed to recycling waste water for drinking in all cases except as a desperate last resort.

The effect is the two sides finally have a distinct difference to present to the community on water, the issue that will now define the next state election due in March but could be held as early as next month.

Additional reporting by Amanda Gearing.

For the full story see - Which way will it run.