I have previously argued that the Australian economy is headed down a ‘steep hill to the creek of insolvency’. Something the recent budget cannot prevent. I have also argued that present government policy, couched as it is in mixed metaphors and wishful thinking, can have little hope of correcting Australia’s economic woes.

Our problems have become so embedded in our governing bureaucracies that change has become just too hard and of course politically impossible. No government is going to suggest change that will cost votes. No government could survive widespread cost-cutting or reduction in services.

So, what is to be done?

Our last hope I believe rests in the old saying: The resistance to change quickly dissipates when present policy becomes unbearable.

I am prepared to argue that the present policy is quickly becoming unbearable. With rising interest rates coupled with government-imposed increasing costs for basics like power, gas, fuel, and food, forcing up inflation, the average household is having difficulty making ends meet now and this is inevitably going to get worse. Making this situation ruinous is the fact that businesses that provide household needs are being forced to increase prices to cover their ever-growing costs. Costs are being forced on them by government policy. As a result, we are now on a merry-go-round of increasing cost of living, increasing costs of production across the country while export prices for our commodities are falling. (Coal has dropped nearly 50 per cent and iron ore around 30 per cent.) This makes our present situation initially difficult and ultimately intolerable as basic inputs like power, water, and gas become rationed or unavailable.

But is the present pain excruciating enough for people to accept effective and necessary change? Any answer to that question can only be supposition until the government actually implements extensive change. Substantial and meaningful change that will alter the course of our economy and put Australia on a more productive and internationally competitive path is very unlikely under this government or any alternative administration. Our economy and our future are akin to an old tree that needs expert care and attention.

To accomplish meaningful change will require practical supervision and robust pruning of the sluggish tree Australia. While its roots are well developed and its cropping has been plentiful; there are now too many people relying on it for sustenance. It is over-committed and undernourished.

So how do we restore the Australian Economy Tree to luxuriant good health and propagate more Economy Trees?

We begin by accepting this fact; The food we eat, the water we drink, and the power we use for most of what we do, are only there because previous generations invested their know-how, their enterprise, and their money in the future. It is time this generation did the same. 

Therefore, we should begin by setting up The Australian Infrastructure Fund, financed by bonds from our Superannuation Funds, and charge this fund with developing and building the infrastructure that we need to provide future generations with abundant, water, power, gas, and fuel. These are The Tools of Trade for production. Wisely implemented, this would see Australia become a regional leader in engineering, manufacturing, and agriculture. Much of the planning for the projects listed here have been completed over recent decades and could be commenced tomorrow, figuratively speaking.

1. As a starting point to a more productive future, we must scrap the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, recognising that it was never necessary. The Environment does not uniquely reside in the lower Murray and the lower Murray has never been short of water. In fact, the Murray River delivers more water to the sea than the next two largest rivers in Australia combined. The present Plan is just wasting otherwise productive water.
2. We should immediately build the proposed Chowilla Dam to effectively manage this huge resource. This dam would have a capacity of five million megalitres and a footprint across three States. It would be a mecca for tourism and the biggest Murray Cod breeding area in Australia. This dam would have an annual yield of at least three million megalitres, which could transform surrounding dry lands into a food-producing garden. This development would generate over $6 billion of economic activity annually and provide jobs for 24,000 workers. These jobs would be in construction, tourism, food production, and processing and transport.
3. To the east of this area is the biggest potable water aquifer in the world. It is the lower Murrumbidgee Aquifer and according to the NSW Office of Water contains around 2 billion megalitres of water. We could extract another million (or more) megalitres of water annually from this source and generate another 8,000 jobs.
4. As a matter of some urgency, we must build the Welcome Reef Dam on the Shoalhaven River to guarantee Sydney and the south coast’s future water supply.
5. Similarly, we must build a large Dam on the Mitchell River to guarantee the water supply for Melbourne and the Gippsland area.
6. Build several weirs and dams on the Darling River and its tributaries.
7. Build the Iron Boomerang east-west rail line with modern steel works at each end and start exporting our coal and iron ore as value-added finished product.
8. Build the Lake Coolah, Stony Point off-river storage in the Murrumbidgee Valley and increase production in our Murrumbidgee Valley food bowl.
9. Build the upper Clarence water conservation and hydro-power scheme which will largely stop recurring flooding in the Clarence Valley and vastly increase agricultural production in the Clarence Valley. This project would supply most of NSW power for the foreseeable future at a fraction of present power costs; all with no emissions.

This list is just a few examples of what we could and can do if we are to make our nation great again and stop the useless practice of pandering to environmentalists, living in the ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ of climate change abatement. We cannot progress as a nation while we are chasing rainbows of climate change. All such action should cease.

This plan is based on the indisputable fact as an egalitarian nation every Australia must have the equality of opportunity to hold a job and have the self-esteem of being self-sufficient. That will never happen while a percentage of our population are encouraged and supported to live miserable lives in environments where there are no jobs, no future, no hope. These people presently have no hope and without resettlement to areas where there are jobs and adequate education, they never will have any worthwhile future.

Present and recent policy has been an expensive failure and correction requires a new approach. In fact, it is not new. Australia has taken this course of action before and the Australian people have a proven track record in implementing wealth-building projects. Our record in growing our productive capacity to ensure every new arrival plus our natural increase in population has a job has until recently been an example to the whole world. We must start now where we left off several decades ago.

Moving people who presently have no hope or worthwhile future to areas of opportunity must be a first priority. This will initially cost money but ultimately save the government and grow government receipts by creating new tax-paying jobs. The nation progresses and in a spirit of unity every citizen wins.