SALINE WATER + ALGAE + CO 2
= BIODIESEL + STOCK FEED + WATER
Cubic QED Pty Ltd
SUBMISSION TO NORTHERN AUSTRALIA GREEN PAPER
Subject: Online Submission Attachment
7th August 2014
The Managernent Team,
Online submission panel,
Under the sub heading of Water Management page 6 of the Green Paper there is
an acknowledgment that there are problems in management of dam water citing
rainfall patterns involving flooding and evaporation as key problems. Under the
proposed infrastructure development it is suggested that northern Australia can
benefit in many ways from development which is agreed. However such
development cannot occur quickly in relation to infrastructure.
What is not covered is the disruption that will be experienced by current foodbowl
regions such as the GBA with respect to rainfall , salinity and exodus of farmers
to proposed northern Australia agriculture opportunities. Nationally agriculture,
horticulture etc is currently undertaken under increasing climate variability
making difficult conditions regarding water supply and water quality.
In addition the ability of farmers to abandon holdings and relocate production
may be unviable in relation to farm incomes due to high national farm asset debt
levels that could lead to unforeseen unemployment in traditional farming areas by
farmers who may be unable to sell properties to undertake relocation thus
leading to higher farm unemployment.
As a suggestion it may be worthwhile considering the previous idea developed by
Richard Pratt to develop a national pipeline capturing excess rainfall in northern
Australia delivering it south to maintain agricultural output whilst delivering the
required infrastructure for northern Australia as proposed. Work mentioned in the
green paper by CSIRO in networked stock watering could be expanded to deliver
water to mining ventures and townships along the route of a national pipeline.
This would compensate infrastructure delivery times in the north whilst
maintaining food production essential to continued GDP growth.
Collaborative investment partnerships could be deployed from the large food
retail chains as well as mining companies and local councils for venturing in the
investment required for offtake pipelines where required. Super funds and banks
prefer to support investments where continuous revenue flows are implemented.
In this case a national pipeline offers opportunities to adopt new models for water
delivery infrastructure from sale of high quality water.
As mentioned evaporation rates of dams in the north is a particular problem as is
seasonal rainfall highs that cause flooding and seasonal dry periods where water
may be in short supply. What might be achieved is a balancing of the seasonal
flows of water. An additional problem is the mineral level in water from both
fertilizers and naturally occurring salts. Water technologies in recent two years
have undergone robust technology development and have already demonstrated
the ability to remove unwanted salts/ minerals such as high iron levels from both
mine water and groundwater by new separation processes at much cheaper cost
than reverse osmosis in brackish water environments. Deployment of new water
purification technology could be facilitated along the route delivering potable
water.
In addition the huge volume of water that is lost to runoff in the north may be
recovered for supporting river flows to the southern states of Victoria New South
Wales and South Australia as part of a national water pipeline infrastructure. The
original Pratt scheme from memory was costed under preliminary feasibility at
$10 billion in 2002.
The ANZ Bank recently announced that an investment of $600 billion was
required by 2050 for upgrading Australia's agricultural infrastructure to sustain
production and develop exports to Asia markets. Even if Pratt scheme was to
triple it would be within the projected investment target as a small percentage of
total infrastructure investment. Supermarket retailers in food may embrace such
development as a means of securing long term commercial advantage via equity
in a water pipeline that supports growers on which their business models are
reliant. Similarly mining companies may experience benefits from equity in such
infrastructure. The upside may be the ability to diversify investment base for the
projected lucrative export markets to Asia as would the food retailers as
commented by Richard Goyder and Andrew Forrest in the media recently.
It was noted that the previous Howard Government did not support a full
feasibility for such a proposal. However the Ord Irrigation Scheme was
developed under Liberal Government under the leadership of Robert Menzies as
the most exciting infrastructure investment of its day. The current Liberal
Government seems to be revisiting traditional concepts developed half a century
ago with potential for revitalizing under better capital management concepts
multiple opportunities for a stronger economy.
We support such initiatives and at the same time recommend that employment,
agricultural production and investment targets proposed in the Green Paper do
not overlook the potential for distortion in infrastructure expenditure that could
potentially disrupt established output in the agri sector.
Regards
David McMurran
Cubic QED Pty Ltd
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CUBIC
QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM
CUBICQED PTY LTD PO Box 245 Cherrybrook NSW Australia 2126
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