Ah, the ancient Australian rural socialist, dam building ritual.

Yes, just what the economy needs, 5 more Ord river projects, private profits, massive public loss.

Ignore the economics, the fact that the Chinese and Indians are able to feed themselves, the poor tropical soils, the lack of suitable cultivars and build some dams, at taxpayers' expense of course.

It states in the 'About the author' that Everald is Chairman of the Australian Transport and Energy Corridor Ltd. If that is the case, perhaps he can please explain to me where the energy (oil) is going to come from to build all of this infrastructure and to transport, maintain and operate all of the myriad components suggested in this article.

Perhaps instead of doing some additional research on how the Kimberley, Pilbara and South-west regions of Western Australia can play into your picture, you should do some serious research, there is an abundance of information out there, on oil production, reserves and projections into the near future. World conventional oil supply peaked in 2005, some new capacity is being brought on-line from deep water sites, shale and tar sands, but overall projections are for a global oil decline rate of approximately 2 to 5 percent per annum.

I would like to see how all of this could be built with an energy crunch coming, not to mention the lack of capital available, lack of investment and the current global debt levels that are continuing to cripple the global economy and will do so for decades to come.

Finally, for what real purpose? As globalisation and trade decline, why bother turning natural environments into industrial agricultural land just to feed India or China, get real.

Lets hope Andrew Robb doesn't get the opportunity to waste more taxpayers money on follies like the one proposed by Everald!

Perhaps Andrew and Everald should bump heads together and come up with a plan to overcome our coming energy problems. Remember, the true driver of any economy is energy, not money, food, water, infrastructure or debt.

Geoff, if you watched the midday news today, you would have seen that BHP is about to start a new very large uranium mine in SA. There is no shortage of energy for projects such as this, just a shortage of the will to embrace modern nuclear technology too produce all the electricity that would be needed.

David

David, you wrote "Geoff, if you watched the midday news today, you would have seen that BHP is about to start a new very large uranium mine in SA. There is no shortage of energy for projects such as this, just a shortage of the will to embrace modern nuclear technology too produce all the electricity that would be needed." Unfortunately known reserves of Uranium are limited and will also peak well before Australia could get a 'new generation' nuclear (Thorium based most probably) reactor system set up.

Electricty generation is a key to our future energy needs, with an emphasis on electrical rail infrastructure to take over the transportation of goods from major ports to areas of need.

Oil and natural gas (and yes we have lots of gas, but again it is still a finite resource) are key components for fertilizer, pesticide, herbicides etc as well as in most modern products or the processes that drive the economy. I would love to see a suitable cheap alternative, unfortunately there are none.

BHP will take what it can while it can purely based on corporate profit and the need to satisfy shareholder wants.

There will be no transition to a new economy without the oil that remains, yet we use it like an infinite resource.

I just don't see any political or community need to develop or undertake what Everald is proposing.

Geoff

A lesson from the Ord River: first find out which crops will grow (and not be destroyed by pests). Then find out if there is a market for them.

Fertiliser I say.

Where will the fertiliser come from to grow the crops indefinitely?

And diesel.

Where will the diesel come from to build the dams and irrigation channels?

Please not from ethanol or bio crops (pay back time is too long or may never occur).