WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE BUT GOING DOWN THE DRAIN

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WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE BUT GOING DOWN THE DRAIN

• Colin Chapman
• Vice President, STRATFOR

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AUSTRALIA TIME FOR ANOTHER SURGE

• All the evidence suggests that Australia could
  significantly boost the production of food.
• With a population of 20,000 it currently produces
  enough food for 60,000. It could double that
• World War II provided the impetus for a surge in
  farming. There could and should be another
  surge now.

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FOOD RATIONING IN WWII BRITAIN

• Big Boost for
• Australia

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RICE TO CHINA, PASTA TO ITALY

• Australia now sells sushi rice to the Japanese,
  basmati rice to South Asia, pasta to the
  Italians, claret to the French, and beef to the
  Texans.

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AUSTRALIAN TOP 10 AGRICULTURAL EXPORT MARKETS

•   

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AUSTRALIA ONLY ARID IN PARTS

• Australia is the sixth largest country after
  Canada, Russia, China, the United States, and
  Brazil.
• Even after you take into account the fact that
  two-thirds of Australia is arid or semi-arid,
  that still leaves 2.5 million square kilometres
  that are not, which makes it a big country for
  food production.

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TWO THIRDS OF AUSTRALIA IS ARID OR SEMI ARID
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LACK OF POLITICAL VISION

• Politicians of both main parties lack vision in
  agriculture
• BECAUSE
• There are no votes in it.
• Australia is an urban race, and most people live
  in six cities, with the vast majority in Sydney
  and Melbourne.

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2 IN EVERY 3 AUSTRALIANS LIVE IN SIX COASTAL
CITIES
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THE GREAT DROUGHT

• YES there has been several years of drought
• BUT
• Australia is not short of water
• The cities and towns where most Australians live
  enjoy more rainfall than many locations that are
  important centres for large scale farming in
  North America and Europe.

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WISE WORDS

• Australias water supply system is broken, and
  needs urgent solutions. Unavoidable water
  scarcity is one of Australias greatest myths.
• Katie Lahey, CEO
• Business Council of Australia

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THE GREAT MURRAY-DARLING BASIN
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MURRAY DARLING BASIN

• Australias most important agricultural
  watercourse.
• Blighted by state feuding and lack of investment.
• The whole area could be revitalized if Canberra
  mobilized the resources needed and encouraged
  private investment in water supply.
• Water supply is run by public sector utilities
  with no imagination and a fixation on rationing.
• Privatization the only sensible answer.

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AUSTRALIA RANKS NO.3 WATER CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA
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DRY CONTINENT..CHEAP WATER!

• Australians pay far too little for their water
• They happily pay 500 per cent more for imported
  bottled water than for what comes out of the tap.
• Water is half as expensive as in Britain and most
  of Europe.
• There is a water trading scheme but it is
  unsophisticated.
• If water was economically priced, then it would
  be supplied via desalination using boundless
  natural gas or pipelines from the wet north.

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MAKE BEEF A WINNER
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BEEF CATTLE GREEDY FOR WATER

• Producing one kilogram of beef uses as much water
  as an individual drinks in a year.
• BUT
• No Prime Minister is going to preside over the
  death of the Great Australian BBQ

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AS REPORTED IN THE TIMES, LONDON

• October 16, 2007
•  
• Holy cow! Were crazy to farm livestock like this
• Our guest columnist on the green case for
  changing our eating habits
• Joanna Lumley
•  
• I prefer not to eat food that has a face.
  But many of my nearest and dearest love their
  meat, and who am I to ask them not to eat so much
  of it? Until now, that is.
• Having just discovered the huge impact of
  livestock production on global warming, I need
  hesitate no longer. Reducing our meat consumption
  is no longer an option but an urgent necessity.
  Heres why. Eighteen per cent of the greenhouse
  gas emissions that we produce come from the
  production of livestock thats 4 per cent more
  than from transport. Thats not all, as the
  amount of meat and dairy produce consumed
  globally is set roughly to double by 2050
  so if theres a problem now, how big will
  it be by then?

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900 UNCAPPED BORES IN AUSTRALIAS GREAT ARTESIAN
BASIN
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GAS FIELDS IN THE COOPER BASIN COULD BE USED FOR
DESALINATION
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WHERE IT RAINS

• One third of Australias irrigation water is
  unaccounted for before it reaches the farm gate.
• 70 of Australias rainfall falls in the tropical
  north.
• ALL but five per cent of this is lost it
  evaporates or flows out to the oceans.
• SOME could be diverted to the Murray Darling
  Basin.
• And farms can be developed in the North and along
  the coasts

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(No Transcript)
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LIBYAS GREAT MAN-MADE RIVER VISIONARY PLANNING
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FIRST MOVES TOWARDS ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS
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GO NORTH, YOUNG MAN

• But Australians dont want to.
• The Ord River scheme is a land of milk and honey
  but only 6000 live there.
• The Chinese would like to farm Northern lands -
  but are snagged by problems over land rights and
  native title, and Australias rigid and highly
  restrictive migration rules.
• Only a few Pacific islanders are allowed in as
  temporary farm workers

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SEASONAL WORKERS LIMITED TO PACIFIC ISLANDERS AND
THE YOUNG
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TWO THIRDS OF AUSTRALIA IS ARID OR SEMI ARID
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SO THE MYTH CONTINUES

• Expanding Australian agriculture is in the too
  hard basket, and will have to wait for the
  arrival of political leadership with vision.
• But, 40 years on, who will own the Northern
  territory?