Quote:
Originally Posted by PRejto
whilst we can argue endlessly about the bush fires and possible connection to global warming the fact remains that Australia has always been a relatively dry continent.......
But Australia's current situation demands much more immediate attention with respect to water. I am just gobsmacked that no government has had the courage or guts to go after this issue. I look at the Hoover Dam project in the USA and marvel that it was started during the great depression. That took guts, put people to work, continues to supply vast amounts of water to the arid Southwest, and in addition supplies hydro-electric power. There are certainly areas of Australia in the North that could harbour dams of this magnitude where the majority of water just flows directly into the ocean. If Libya can pipe water across their whole country why can't Australia use a system of dams to fill the river systems? Water and clean power could transform this country.
I believe our best immediate course of action is to mitigate what we have done to ourselves in the short term while not ignoring the necessity of long term policy with respect to the environment. Neither is happening and that is an utter disgrace as is the sad fact that the NBN is the largest infrastructure project in Australian history. While I understand the passion of both sides of the argument re energy production, compared to the water problem, the debate almost appears trivial.
Peter
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Peter, apologies but, I've broken up some of your thread to address a number of your points... Indeed what you say is generally very relevant however...
Australia is indeed the driest continent in the world however, you simply cannot ignore that 'climate change' or more accurately, man's acceleration of a natural cycle is also in part responsible for our land, indeed our planet getting drier..
The water problem could certainly be managed far better but, it's not as simple as you might think.. the idea of pumping water south from regions such as Darwin & Far North Queensland has been investigated more often than you might suspect & not only is it not a particularly economically viable project, in some cases, it's simply not actually possible due to the mountain ranges & lift required to get the water flowing...
Water management of our existing resources is however, woeful.. wilful mismanagement by current and past governments, introduction of water intensive crops in regions that simply don't have the water; unrestricted access to mining companies at essentially no charge to underground water sources.. greedy political fingers dipping into the water buy back schemes... let alone individual states who refuse to play ball unless they get to have everything they want from the system & bugger the rest of the states downstream...
I agree, it's outrageous that no-one is kicking up a stink (except those in the affected communities) sadly though, our governments have been & still are complicit in the mismanagement of these issues.. unfortunately in our current political climate, even changing governments will not sadly fix this issue...
The reality is, there is no long term policy on anything in this country... there is no action to mitigate what we even have now... it's all about getting re-elected in a three year cycle... that's it.. there is no infrastructure plan in this country & hasn't been for at least 30 years... what's our excuse... oh, it's those damn immigrants... you I'm sure, heard the politicians & media scream it from the roof tops... not the fact we haven't invested, just 'immigrants'...
Our population has become so self centred & self interested.. where's my tax cut... hell, last election it collectively swallowed the lie that Labor was coming after your super by outlawing tax refunds for less than 1% of retirees who didn't pay tax... but, just the fear alone (factual or otherwise) was enough to send the population into a frenzy that Labor was gonna take something away from us & vote accordingly...
You are right, there are so many issues in this country right now that need dealing with, it's hard to actually say where the priority should be but, the reality is, we don't have a priority for any of them... Our governments (past & present) priority is getting re-elected... our population's priorities seem to be only focussed on itself as an individual... if it's not affecting me directly.. don't care... or so it would seem...
One can be passionate about more than one thing & I suspect you'll find that most on here commenting about the climate are just as passionate about all those things you've mentioned...
For the record though, NBN in it's original form actually was a worthwhile project.. ask any rural community whether they would like greater connectivity & the answer is a resounding yes... just not for the reasons most city dwellers would think of... it would actually help them manage their farms better, their businesses better & a whole range of other meaningful spinoffs for their communities... so NBN a waste of time.. well actually no, not in it's original form... in what has been actually rolled out.. yep, pretty much...
So, I don't disagree with the main thrust of your post but, we can do substantially more to address all of the issues if we became a little less obsessed with tax cuts, became more interested in our country & the welfare of all it's population & demanded far better performance from our governments.. but, I see little signs of this actually happening..