That Paper was two years old now.
SA & Vic would not be in a drought?
I can tell you now,
there is a lot of water up here (NQLD) that is going to WASTE.
TC Ellie
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I suspect we'll be saddled with this $42 billion debt for a long time. I think it is a waste giving it to the masses as a hand out.
One could suggest spending it on infrastructure but can you see the Greens letting us build another major infrastructure development like the Snowy or even a pipeline from N. Qld? How long would that take to get under way. It would be in the courts for yonks!
A fast train? A lot of (most?) of the money would go to overseas companies.
Me? I'm gunna spend my $950 on my Rangie. I have a Haltech Interceptor ready for Graham Cooper's to install and I want them to tune the engine on the dyno. What's left over will pay local labour for something else - maybe towards fitting larger LPG tanks into the Rangie.
G'day Folks :)
Infrastructure would be the sensable way to go, and the Bradfield Scheme would need to be seriously looked at, it would drought proof the southern states, and would revitalise the Murray/Darling system, at the moment Nth Qld is getting in the region of a metre of rain per week, if that were turned west, it would inject trillions of megalitres in these systems of FRESH WATER, which in turn would start to dilute the saline conditions currently existing from over farming/stocking, if my memory serves me correctly the Hoover Dam and other major infrastructure works were undertaken in the US at the height of the last great depression 1929-1932, and our own Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme was undertaken just post WW11 to stimulate the workforce and to employ the in flow of "Displaced Persons" (migrants) which led to the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Scheme of the 1950's :)
It would then give Australia a more developed mainland:)
rant over.
And that is the Point .... A project that results in opportunities for new towns and industries to be opened up = Export
More export is what saves this country every time
I don't know if you are aware but Australia survives on the back of 2 industries ..... Farming & Mining .... that's it !!
The world doesn't want our ore ..... :(
But the world needs more food .... so feed the world :)
Mike
I don't wish to appear totally negative here, and I'm by no means sure of my facts, however I recall reading somewhere that if this scheme was implemented it may have disastrous effects on the Great Barrier Reef by significantly impacting on its ecosystem. As I say, I'm not sure, but I am sure we would need to seriously research this aspect before making any moves in that direction.
It seems to me that we are buying a lot of food from overseas and farmers/orchardists are shutting up shop. When we shop we deliberately look for Australian products. Once upon a time, Woolworths used to mark the shelves with a map of Australia for Australian-made products. They no longer do so and this really annoys me.
I can't say I'm happy with cotton farming and the massive water usage that ensues.
Re infrastructure projects, one problem with any large infrastructure program are the very long lead times to fully research and plan.
It's great to hear you guys talking about our future food production when the current Government and the Greens are taking away over 80 million acres of productive food growing country and planting it down to trees. This is the proposal for carbon sink legislation. Over the next 40 years Australia will convert a staggering 84 million acres of productive food producing agricultural land into tree plantations to fight climate change. That’s over 6,000 acres a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, every year for the next 40 years. What is particularly stupid is that a viable alternative is not being considered because it will send money to non labor voting farmers SEE HERE
We seem hell bent on destroying our capacity to support ourselves in the name of either big business, CO2 mitigation or just plain "I don't care".
Many of us have been asking for some time:
Is Australia the stupidest nation on earth ?
You can read some more here
Not a great deal different to what's been happening under everyones nose for the last 20 to 30 years. I refer to the even more stupid act of converting productive farm land, especially dairy farms, into housing estates.
The descendants of Macarthur and his cronies are laughing in their beards to see the Campelltown and western Sydney regions these days. These were lands which were virtually given to these families to farm and now they're housing lots. And don't get me started on the NSW south coast.
Governments of all persuasions have been a part of this.