Canal prosperity – can Albo get it?

On the 23^rd April 2017 when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened Australia for aligning with the US, and that "his missiles were within striking distance of Australia", my coffee group pals of the MTG wrote to Kim suggesting a line of ICBM strikes along this route. We even offered a hot date with a Greens senator who had already orchestrated the blowing up of the Port Augusta coal fired power station. Alas, he did not respond.

If you take the time to study the huge mineral wealth on these proposed routes, the topography of what I am suggesting, you would have a zig zag canal in a south-south-westerly direction, passing west of Mount Isa at a peak height of 266 metres above sea level. This would provide a very useful port for the export of lead and zinc to Port Pirie and Asia, as well as an export pathway for the 1.2 billion tonnes of phosphate, particularly since those tenements in the Georgina Basin across Queensland and the Northern Territory, remain unmined. This is a no-brainer!

There are ample studies on the significant fish habitat growth of the Rhien-Main-Danube waterway to placate the inevitable screams of the activists. Strict environmental standards in canals in Amsterdam, Venice and the Panama ensure that these waterway are always kept healthy.

Waterway transportation is around 3-5% of the cost of road transport, with corresponding levels of emissions. While there may be little or no appetite for such a canal cruise within Australia, the economics of bulk freight alone would justify such an investment.

Such a bold project requires a government with vision.

Do we have such a government with Albo? Not a chance!