Toowoomba not in SEQ water grid ...

... but faces quandary over Beattie asset grab.

Toowoomba is currently excluded from the SEQ water grid and presumably falls outside Premier Beattie's current SEQ water asset grab.

However, should the Premier extend his asset accumulation tactics to Toowoomba and its three dams and related infrastructure, Toowoomba City Council faces a difficult position.

Toowoomba's water infrastructure is owned by the community.

It accounts for roughly a third of the net assets of the community managed by the Toowoomba City Council (around $325m out of around $970m of net assets - based on 2004/5 figures).

Toowoomba City Council would need to think long and hard as to whether it had the right, without recourse to the community, to hand over one third of the community's assets to the State government.

There are certainly people in the community who would look at the legal implications of such action by the Council and whether a form of class action for compensation to the community was appropriate.

Remember, Premier Beattie is currently offering no compensation to local councils for the asset grab.

In the absence of legislation compelling Toowoomba City Council to transfer around one third of the community's assets to the State government (with presumably appropriate compensation paid similar to arrangements under compulsory acquisition legislation), the Council may have no right to hand over the community's assets without a mandate from the community.

Another referendum anyone ...