The great SEQ recycled water farce ...

You may well wonder why Mayor Thorley was on television last night demanding the State government hold a quick referendum on adding recycled sewage to drinking water supplies. Or don't hold a referendum if the State government doesn't want to.

She seems to have forgotten that the city she supposedly represents voted on this issue on 29 July 2006 and rejected it. Remember: 62% said no.

But no, at Toowoomba ratepayers' expense no doubt, off to Brisbane she goes to join with the Ipswich and Brisbane Deputy Mayors to sip some NEWater (she must have loaded up the boot!) and try to pressure the State government to put recycled water in the dams.

See - Courier Mail - Councils unite to demand early poll.

Ipswich Deputy Mayor Tully thought that recycled water might be required as early as next year. He seems to forget you need to build a recycled sewage plant first. And of course there's the testing - unless he wants to forgo that too.

Mayor Thorley thought that you would need to educate the public. After spending close to $1 million of Toowoomba ratepayers' money on an 'education' campaign she has admitted was doomed to fail, she now wants to get on the bandwagon yet again. You lost Di, get over it.

The recycled water industry must be shaking its head at the keystone cops routine going on north of the border, so soon after the Toowoomba debacle. As if they would want Mayor Thorley within 100 miles of any other recycled water campaign. She'd want to march the kids through the streets!

Everyone seems to have overlooked the words 'long-term' in Commissioner Nosworthy's comments. Given the Beattie government's stance on trying to experiment with recycled water for drinking somewhere in Queensland, it's hardly surprising that the Queensland Water Commission is going to refer to it in their report as a possible water source.

But no, let's not wait for the final report. Let's jump in the car and get to Brisbane so we can all sip some NEWater at a press conference. (NEWater being such a stellar marketing success in the Toowoomba water debate - take the NEWater bottle and Water Futures balloon, smile, then dump the NEWater bottle in the bin and give the balloon to your child seems to have been the general response.)

Premier Beattie originally wanted to hold any recycled water referendum in 2008 to coincide with the next Council elections. Councillors would know that such timing is political suicide for any Councillor advocating a Yes vote at the time of the referendum/election.

Even Mayor Thorley would not want Toowoomba voters reminded of her recycled sewage experiment debacle at the 2008 Council elections (should she run again) by having all other voters in South East Queensland voting on a referendum on the same day.

So there's a very good reason for trying to give the State government a bit of a hurry along or convince them to scrap altogether any thoughts of a referendum on the issue.

However, if this is the start of the next campaign, it's quickly following the Mayor Thorley playbook of how to burn $1 million and screw up a recycled water campaign.

But back to the first point - when recycled sewage for drinking is dead and buried in Toowoomba and Mayor Thorley has admitted as much, why is she swanning around and sipping NEWater in Brisbane?

Surely that isn't Toowoomba City Council business ...