Finding not enough water to support Bradfield Scheme condemned by Katter

Mr Katter has long championed the massive agricultural scheme first proposed by civil engineer Dr John Bradfield in 1938, to irrigate millions of hectares of land across Queensland and South Australia, and a recently revised version of that, and was scathing of the announcement by Queensland Water Minister Glenn Butcher that the panel's study showed there was not enough consistent water to support the Bradfield scheme.

The panel, chaired by Professor Ross Garnaut and including former Queensland Farmers Federation CEO Dr Georgina Davis and James Cook University Professor Allan Dale, found that the scheme's costs far exceeded benefits, and aligned with the CSIRO report, An assessment of contemporary variations of the Bradfield Scheme.

Mr Butcher said the state government was now focused on maximising the use of water closer to where it is located by investigating the feasibility of four regional water grids.

Mr Katter said the revised Bradfield Scheme he supported would put 120,000ha under cane, providing up to 7 per cent of Australia's petrol, 2pc of the country's electricity, 1pc of its timber, and provide enough feed to fatten one-eighth of Australia's cattle herd.

"All these wonderful things the CSIRO says won't stack up," he said. "I wonder how a $7 billion underground rail crossing stacks up."

He added that what had been proposed wouldn't cost as much as the Burdekin Falls Dam had, in comparative terms.

"What does Ross Garnaut know about all this - is there any reason why we should respect him in this area," he asked.

"I don't see anyone on the panel with engineering expertise, and they're up against Dr Bradfield, a man who designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Story Bridge in Brisbane.

"Our temperatures are the same, our climate's the same - what's changed."

RELATED: Bradfield scheme remains a dream

Prof Garnaut said last Friday that much more was known about how the water contributed to the environment, and there was a more sophisticated hydrological knowledge as well.

Mr Katter, speaking through gritted teeth, said many things had changed for the better, including more cost efficient land-clearing machines.

"The Flinders (River) is the sixth biggest in Australia but its flow is unreliable," he said.

"We want the Bradfield to fill in all the potholes.

"These people can't think big - it's a pygmy approach.

"They build some small weirs and everyone thinks they're wonderful - they're just Lilliputian."

The LNP's state water spokesperson Deb Frecklington described the report as a damning indictment into the Palaszczuk government's failure to provide water security for Queensland.

In August this year Queensland Farmers Federation president Alan Dingle implored the government to not sit on the report, delivered months ago, any longer, and Ms Frecklington was scathing of the government's inaction in keeping the report to itself for so long.

"The report's been available for the last 12 months at least," she said. "We know it's been sitting on the minister's desk and the Palaszczuk government hasn't built a dam, they haven't provided any water security, and they've done nothing to give confidence in Queenslanders that they do anything else with water but use it as a political plaything."

She said the government put together the panel to undertake the assessment based on the fact that "it was never going to happen".

Both the LNP and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said they were open to the idea of a revised Bradfield water diversion scheme prior to the last state election, in 2019, but last week Ms Frecklington wouldn't be drawn on whether it would be part of the party's platform going forward.

She said she'd asked for a briefing on the report's findings but didn't know what its details were because the first time she'd been offered a briefing was following last week's announcement.

"That is an absolute joke," she said. "We'll be asking many questions of the water minister."

MORE READING: