Another year and another summer of flood-cut roads in North Queensland! It is over 150 years since the first white settlement north of the Tropic of Capricorn and North Queensland still does not have flood free roads.
Meanwhile, faraway in myopic Brisbane - the capital of Queensland - millions upon millions are being sunk into roads. And then look at the highways and freeways that service the Gold and Sunshine coasts and the hinterland of the Darling Downs and the Granite Belt.
But then Cairns and Townsville, Australia's major tropical cities, are closer to Port Moresby - the capital of Papua New Guinea than they are to any Australian capital.
North Queensland needs a four lane flood free highway from Mackay to Port Douglas. North Queensland industry - from mining to agriculture to tourism and education - requires it.
Good governance in Queensland? Not for Capricornia.
