I will ignore the smutty naughty little misplay on this quote.

Our constant noise making over water for 40 years has achieved nothing but wind and  no windmill. What we have in fact achieved is wind!  The written word is mightier than the sword without overworking the metaphor that sword now needs to be drawn and used.

Up until 2 years ago we had to save the planet from global warming. Desertification, Murray Darling drying up, salination, then  the Brisbane Grantham floods, 22 drowned, week long towns isolated and flooded in the SW for weeks on end. This was in the head waters of the Murry Darling.

Massive flooding in the United States,  high water levels in the Mississippi.

All this meant was global warming ended up rightly or wrongly in the garbage can,

Back to development and job creation, The cancer of marketization (globalisation, economic rationalism, Free Trade, whatever you want to call it) has abolished the manufacturing of motor cars, fridges, air-conditioners, washing machines, clothing, footwear, virtually nothing is now made in Australia. All of these were once made in Australia. Now there is only Iron ore and coal and metal mining.

Copper, zinc, nickel, aluminium must be concentrated and upgraded otherwise transportation costs will kill you. This processing requires electricity. Marketization of the electricity industry drove prices up to  the 2ndhighest in the world.

Only Coal and Iron Ore are left, both are in deep long term trouble.

If a “lousy” $7000m is borrowed it will be repaid. The Feds spend every three years over $1,500,000m.

Out of this $7000m over three year we NQlders will give our nation:

·       Galilee Coalfields Railline (costs $2000m). created annual  value of production (CAVofP) $7000m,

·       Hells Gate Dam (SW of Townsville,Charters Towers)

STaDA Dams scheme (SW of Cairns, Ravenshoe) cost $5000m  (CAVofP $4000)

·        Silicone Cape York (N of Cairns), cost $200m (CAVofP)  $4000m)

·       Burketown Canal (West of Burketown from Burketown to a point, 150k N)  providing the desperately needed outlet for Phosphate, Fertiliser, Gas, western-gulf Metals and Prawn and Crayfish production (CAVofP $4000m, cost $200m)  

·  The Four Stages Beef Action Plan

1.    Title deeds for First Australians (no title deeds, no development)

2.    Every North Queensland Owner-Operator Cattleman to get 300ha freeholded plus the necessary water rites.

3.    Karumba Live Export Scheme

4.    Mid-west micro irrigation schemes (about 7000 ha in Hughenden, Cloncurry, (North of ) Julia Creek and 20,000at Richmond.

North Queensland should have 6m ox, it has only 4.7m.

Cape York with a giant 65 inch rainfall has only 0.14m ox. It should have over 2m. The current 5m ox in Nth Qld should then become 8m. Irrigation schemes would bring this up to 9m.

Nth Qld and Qld’s turn-off is only one ox out of every six in the herd.  North Queensland will with these changes move up to the Australian wide turn-off rate is one for three. This will be a a 3m per year ox turn off with half of them quartered and or boxed.

CAVofP $6000m.

Let me focus on my homeland North West Queensland and the canal. The N.T. Queensland border contains around 1000m tonne of rock phosphate valued at $110 tonne.

But the cost of road haulage to Mount Isa, rail to Townsville, Port charges, plus triple handling all together these charges are $85 / tonne.  By the time the costs of mining and beneficiation are included, there is no profit margin.

If the canal is built road haulage costs of $15 /t remain but only $7 is needed to canal it out and put it on board ship.  Not $85/t but only $22/t

At mooted production of 4mt per year :- $440m a year into Nth Qld economy . This is over 4000 jobs. But the big issue is NW Qld control. This canal to work must be multi user and a no go zone for “flyins.”

There are no effects on the ecology.

50km are across tidal flood plain, highly saline salt flats.

Five locks are then needed and fresh water must be used for the next 100 kilometres of canal. This will require some small diversion weirs out of the local rivers (with all-weather roadways on top of them) to provide fresh water for the canals , these weirs will also provide unprecedented opportunities for local cattlemen, including Doomadgee to beat recurring droughts

And overcome our annual protein drought.

This canal through the saltwater flats provides the best site for prawn farming in Australia (much better than the east of Kununurra farm. A $120m project, just now going full production the project will create some 1000 odd jobs.)

The door of opportunity is now unlocked. We must now kick it open and gain for North West Qld a paradise of opportunities.