I'm sure there will be some outcomes on social, economic and environmental grounds, but they probably won't benefit any Australian farmer, or the Australian society as a whole.

sir i think a more eqitable and fairer solution would be for all australians to get behind and support this program by insisting that the govt also restricts water to the major cities (sydney melb bris) then everyone will share in support of this scheme, state govts can turn off the water supply to these cities and each family can be issued with a bucket to draw water from their local creek, i am sure that this minor inconvience would not be to hard on families, after all what is the use of an unlimited water supply if there is no food to eat

reg gillian:

The government certainly wouldn't want to cut off the water supply to cities. Large corporations e.g. Unitywater here in Brisbane, are making a mint out of everything these days.

Cash cows are not only to be found on farms any more. Hell, I feel like a cow myself! Every year I seem to get milked a bit more than the year before.

Last week I received an electricity bill from another even larger corporation, AGL, which is listed on the ASX as AGK. The cost of my electric hot water had gone up by 20% again. At least half of this was due to another price increase.

Some highly intelligent people are now switching their hot water systems off for 2 or 3 days at a time, to stop AGL and other companies making money from heating up their HWS every time they use even a cupful of hot water.

I live about 800 metres from a creek which is largely blocked by vegetation. Next to it, the Moreton Bay Regional Council has made a Wetland Reserve. This is Green-speak for Filth Laden Cesspit, and the reserve has been named after a local boy who drowned in the creek in that location. Although the cesspit is fenced off, it is an open invitation for even more children to drown or be poisoned by the filth.

Since I was once a Cub Scout Leader, when the Y2K scare was on, I thought I might have to draw water from that cesspit and boil it for myself and my son to drink.

I think more farmers should follow the modern trend and try to sell everything they grow at country markets, flea markets etc. Then they will get an EXCELLENT price for what they can still grow, thus finishing ahead of Woolworths and the Green Slave Labor Party who are certainly NOT patriots of this country. No, not by a long shot!

I still think it is a fair thing for growers and graziers to send both Julia Gillard and their respective State Premiers an invoice for loss of income.

On another blog, Julia Gillard has been given the name, Dillard. While this is good for a laugh, I think the Communist Queen knows exactly what she's doing.

Barnaby, Why can't treated recycled water from the cities be pumped into the basin?...

Simon:

Why would the government want to do THAT? Is there money in it for anyone other than their corporate mates?

Would that help to remove our farmers from their land? I think not.

The Labor government will NEVER behave like patriots of their own country and shell out lots of money to suit Aussie farmers.

That would be going against the ongoing plan to corporatise everything, and send the government, farmers and other citizens broke.

Apart from that, I'm wondering why anyone would want to touch recycled sewage and hospital effluent. For all we know, it might poison the Murray/Darling basin. Perhaps someone might even want to do it deliberately.

Last week I heard that someone was not satisfied just to kill most of the tomato seedlings in the Bowen area. They came back to finish off whole fields of ripe tomatoes.

Lorikeet, I think you can drink recycle water can't ya? Desal water isn't that recycle? But what about the Hack, which is the greens. Is it not 'Reinventing the Wheel' sort of stuff that this Greenie lot goes on with. Producing food "their way is the only way?" Seems odd. History will teach starvation to the masses again. Cooling climate means less food. Also, Don't the Greenies want to get away from fossil fuel use? BIOMASS FUELS is the use of 'Today's Carbon' fuels, Isn't it? "Working Forward" as close as possible with the Environment, would Move Australia Forward! Also, What so natural about a solar panel? How's it biodegradeable? 'Today's Carbon Farming' (Biomass Fuels) would achieve a cause of the greenie's - Doing it! Nature's Way?

Hi Simon:

Desalinated water comes from the ocean. A friend's husband was one of the engineers who set up a desalination plant on the Gold Coast, and I think another at Byron Bay. To my knowledge, steel for the Gold Coast plant was imported from China. Needless to say, it rusted rather quickly, and the Queensland government had to get the company to fix it at an enormous cost.

Desalination is a costly salt-extraction process, especially if the water needs to be piped a long way to the cities. I think a water grid is a better idea by far.

The last I heard was that the Queensland government wanted to add recycled sewage and hospital effluent to our drinking water at concentrations far greater than those used elsewhere.

If there is a glitch in the system at any time, we could all be exposed to the many forms of hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS and deadly Golden Staph. In case you weren't aware, more than 30,000 Australians are now HIV positive.

As far as solar panels are concerned, I believe they use the only non-renewable form of energy available to the planet. If the sun burns out, we're history! If it rains for a month and you are relying on solar power, a huge electricity bill will follow.

A solar panel is certainly not bio-degradable, but it is certainly expensive, smashable, eminently replaceable and not easily cleanable. That's why Anna bought them from China.

Yes, there are plenty of alternatives that can be used for fuel, but they would be better used for human food, stock fodder and soil building.

The Greens are primarily interested in making human beings expendable; weeds, possums and bats all uncontrollable; family pets eminently castrateable (or possibly beddable), farmyard animals solely pattable, and people with any real values kickable.