Do I need a degree from a thesis on the intestine of a tadpole, for the above to be considered?
JF Aus,
By the way things have been going since the Goaf era yes, you needed that degree to become an overpaid underperforming bureaudroid !
I hope like mad that those Australians who can still think of not just for themselves will succeed in reintroducing a national Service that will create resurgence of common sense & a sound enough mentality to be a decent citizen.
Those unemployables with studs & tattoos etc can join freak shows to get off the Dole.

Well argued, JF. Time to end the typical political mudsling and just focus on viable solutions. And understand in a world gone mad, we need to remain an island of sanity that finally understands, we need to produce everything we need right here!

Your point about natural fibre is well made! And so refreshing when compared to the usual garbage produced by the usual conga line of conflicted nay-sayers!

None of who have anything of value to add to the debate as alternative viable solutions. Just the usual name calling and negative labeling. And suggestions that extreme right wingers are best suited to manage everything. [Never ever forget it was the extreme right wing Nazi party that took the world to war and basically butchered six million Jews. The fact that they called themselves, national socialists did not mean they were the real deal socialists!]

Sadly, it's these morons who will decide the next election and the policies we take forward into the foreseeable future.

As for pumping water uphill. If You include enough stages every 3 feet. It could all be done via gravity alone and 24/7 in extremely simple, but airtight sealed systems. And pay for all outlays over time via hydro schemes on the final downhill runs?

The uphill stages could be mass produced by robotic assisted factory production. A 3 thousand foot climb would require, e.g., a thousand sealed systems and a hundred or so workers to install them on the uphill slopes. How many uphill slopes could be utilized? Limited only by the intellect of those who select and install our alleged representitives. And the cost of the energy deployed in the manufacture!
Alan B.

the extreme right wing Nazi party
Alan B,
How times changed things, now it's the extreme Left who causes all the problems.
Re; who have anything of value to add to the debate as alternative viable solutions.
How many more times do people have to put forward ideas for solutions ?
When you have an education system so dysfunctional that even the holders of degrees are too dumb to be of even basic use then the only solution is to start with a mentality=changing system i.e. a National Service !
Perhaps schemes such as the Bradfield scheme & other schemes to green the interior of Australia can be achieved. Until people accept that it is the academic elite progessives who are the stumbling block to bettering our society, I'm afraid nothing much will be happening in regards to meaningful progress !

Commenting on OLO is a waste of time and changes nothing! Getting very tired of spending hours on the keyboard and continually correcting unathorised editing. Only to see a very nearly complete article erased. before I can make it a comment. Can't imagine why I bother casting my pearls. Oink oink.
Alan B.

Talking to an older bloke from north of Cooktown, I was told that some stations which had been good working cattle stations for decades have been bought by the Qld State Govt & handed to indigenous occupants of the area. The stations, according to him, are not known to be operated by the new owners & are slowly succumbing to the weeds.
It would be good if someone could enlighten those who forked out the Dollars what the plan is for these stations !
By all means support the indigenous in making a go of it but if these stations were "bought back" simply to become uncontrollable weed infested wasteland than what is the money for ?