Of floods, potholes, and infrastructure

For the story that goes with the picture above, click here.

The Big Wet continues in North Queensland as the flooding moves north. Mackay is mopping up from its biggest wet. I have posted on the Don River and associated flooding in Bowen. Now Townsville is having its problems. Miss Eagle is a banana-bender. She lives in Victoria now - but cannot yet say that she is a Victorian. Most of her life has been spent in North Queensland. Before coming to Melbourne and Upper Gully, Miss E lived at Bluewater only 15 minutes away from where the flooding, pictured below, has occurred.

But there is one thing that bugs Miss Eagle - and that is the fact that there is not a flood-free four-lane highway in North Queensland from Sarina to Mossman. When I visit Brisbane I see all the money that is spent just to keep pace with congestion. In North Queensland, however, the necessary road spending is not a matter of congestion. It is a matter of being able to move around in The Wet. Of being able to keep industry going, of being able to transport people needing medical attention.

When Miss E was a whipper-snapper in North Queensland and went on the annual road-trip to the Brisbane rellies for Christmas, January was not quite the same if one was not stuck beside a flooded creek or river on the way home. That has been more or less in the past as high level bridges have been constructed. However, all that bridge-building has still left the north with flood-prone pot-holed "highways", some quite narrow and curvaceous and dangerous. This is not a wishlist. This is a demand for necessary infrastructure.

It is high time that governments of every hue and classification - local, state, territory, federal - woke up to themselves on infrastructure spending. We have talked a lot of garbage for over two decades now about how Australia believes in a level playing field and does not subsidise business and agriculture. However, just as a lack of investment in the family home means it goes to rack and ruin and loses its value in the market-place, so does lack of investment in our nation. Investment in infrastructure such as road and rail provides jobs for the community, necessary business inputs, lifelines to health, education, and economic access. In short, investment in infrastructure is an economic subsidy which benefits the whole community - not just vested interest.

If we are to remain a truly cohesive and equitable nation, then investment in infrastructure is necessary. We have apologised to Aboriginal people this week and talked about health and education and employment inputs. But one of the most vital things you can do for Aboriginal communities is to provide them with all-weather road access. Without good road access, Aboriginal communities cannot begin to build any form of local economy. Without good road access, it is difficult for them to access services the rest of us take for granted. Without good road access, it is difficult for Aboriginal people to access medical services or for medical services to access Aboriginal communities.

And, dear Reader, guess what the problem is? It is the out of sight, out of mind syndrome. In Queensland, Brisbane is at the very bottom of the state, far far away from Mackay, Bowen, Townsville, Cairns. And let's not mention Mount Isa and the Gulf country - the Gulf country which can remain immersed in and cut off by floods for three months of the year because the country is so close to sea level.

People are hearing horror stories of children in Aboriginal communities on Cape York. Now that is even further out of sight and out of mind from Brisbane. To the extent that political leadership has almost certainly never had anything to do with the Aboriginal communities of the Cape and their traditions. How different from the Northern Territory where representation of Aboriginal people in the Parliament of the NT almost exactly matches the proportion of Aboriginal people in the Territory population.

So it can be very difficult to make yourself heard in the Parliament of Queensland if you are from the North and it gets more difficult the more remote you are from the east coast.

This problem of the lack of decent road infrastructure has always been there. We are only now starting to understand the La Nina effect and old hands look back to the floods of the forties and fifties and say "Ahah - that's what is was all about, eh!" But now there is another addition to our knowledge - Climate Change. And, if governments don't bite the bullet and do something about all-weather highway access and all-weather access to remote communities, matters will only get worse.

As any North Queenslander knows, Brisbane loves the money that flows from the North from mining, grazing, sugar, horticulture, tourism. But getting money out of Brisbane for necessary infrastructure and services is, all too often, like getting blood out of a stone. Or if funds are given they are not given with the same largesse as the funding given within the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast axis.

So, North Queensland, when the mopping up is over and you see all those local authority and bitumen people patching up the potholes to make some new bumps in your patchwork quilt of a road, get your act together and start kicking up a fuss. The squeaky wheel not only gets the most grease, it is frequently the only wheel to get any grease at all. Demand a fair share + catch up on road spending. And all you southern tourists who love to winter in the tropical sun, please get right behind them.

A photographic instance of the lack of a flood-free four-lane highway.

Please note: To the left is the high bridge over the Bohle River, just north of the twin cities of Townsville and Thuringowa. To the right is the low bridge. The high bridge carries two lanes of traffic. In dry times it is one-way traffic. In flood times, it is two-way traffic. Townsville is the industrial hub and de facto capital of North Queensland. It deserves better than this. Local Authority elections for an amalgamation of the two cities are coming up. Who is going to push this infrastructure barrow?

The Don... Mighty River of the Peoples of Ancient Djiru...

My good friend Patricia Corowa and her daughter Virginia Kruger have been on the receiving end of wonderful photographs of the mighty Don River, just north of Bowen in North Queensland - at the northern end of the famed Whitsundays. Patricia and I grew up in Bowen - so we have memories of going out to the banks of the Don to rejoice in its raging, fast flowing waters. It was always said that the Don, in flood, was the fastest running river in Australia because of the steep and relatively short gradient from mountains to mouth.

McArthur River destruction by XStrata

Barbara McCarthy's brother was buried in Borroloola yesterday - a significant man and a significant fighter against the destruction of the McArthur River. The sorry business continues. This is the reason that three Aboriginal Labor members of the NT Legislative Assembly crossed the floor to vote against Labor's mis-timed and anti-environmental legislation supporting xstrata's proposal to wreck one of the great rivers of Australia, the McArthur River.

Farewell, Kurmanjai

Agriculture going North?

Will a shift of agribusiness to Northern Australia mean that the picture of the flooded Durack River in Western Australia will become a scene similar to the picture on the left of salinated soil?

Let's listen to Tim Flannery and the voices of knowledgable people before replicating in Northern Australia what Australians of European descent have done to Southern Australia.

Back in January 2007, John Howard did a not very good job of the old soft shoe shuffle with his ministerial arrangements. The Prime Minister appointed his vile-hearted attack-dog friend and close Liberal ally, Senator Bill Heffernan, to lead a taskforce that will consider ways to encourage farmers to move north.

Miss Eagle was so gob-smacked by this horrific appointment and its antecedents, implications, and portents for the future that it has taken this long for her to try to achieve some coherence in commenting on this mind-boggling scenario.

Miss E will start with some bullet points (and a warning, dear Reader: this post is almost certain to descend into incoherence, frothing at the mouth, tearing out of hair and similar lunacies. Please be patient. Northern Australia is Miss Eagle's very lifeblood. It is her very being even though she has been transplanted to the Land of the Eagle, Creator Spirit in this part of the world.)

1. The Howard Government has never given a damn (or a dam) about Northern Australia. "One of the first acts of this coalition government was to cut $250 million in regional projects as well as cutting general purpose funding to the Northern Territory by $12 million. In the Territory we have experienced massive cuts to the Public Service, which means not only jobs are taken out of the region but also vital services are removed. Offices that have closed in the Northern Territory include Darwin's office of the Department of Transport and Regional Development, AusAID--the Australian Agency for International Development--Radio Australia, the Office of Northern Development, and the Department of Finance's regional office. " From the maiden speech in the Australian Senate by NT Senator Trish Crossin.


2. What does Bill Heffernan, farmer from southern New South Wales, know about Northern Australia? Someone correct me please with some good solid facts, but Miss Eagle thinks Bill knows sweet you know what. Bill was born in Junee and has not moved far. He was educated at St Joey's at Hunters Hill. For my North Australian friends, Miss Eagle wishes to advise that when she went to live in Sydney, on her first day there she went to hear Richard Rohr speak at Joey's. Miss Eagle knows of no school as posh as this in Northern Australia. In fact, Bill, most of your generation and mine who grew up in Northern Australia - and of a number of generations since - had no educational opportunities such as you had. So, Bill, the Liberal Party under Menzies, Holt and McMahon and the Liberal-National Party Coalition under Bjelke-Petersen have much to answer for.


3. Farmers following European and North American farming practices have wrecked the soil and water of this nation, none more so than those practising farming in the older settled areas of southern Australia - where Bill has his farm.


4. Agriculture, in some areas of the north, has not been successful. One of the major reasons is insect attack. Again, correct Miss Eagle if she is wrong by producing some facts, but Miss Eagle believes that if widespread agriculture is to succeed north of the Tropic of Capricorn heavy use of pesticides will be required. There is an exception. Genetic modification of crops is being given or will be given the green light to avoid pesticide use. This will be of great benefit to cotton which has GM crops ready to go.


5. The cane growing industry, because of its chemical run-off, in North Queensland has been detrimental to the Great Barrier Reef and contributes to its almost certain demise. The industry organisation has been antedeluvian in its denialist attitudes. If these attitudes have changed, please give Miss Eagle the evidence. Miss Eagle is targetting the industry as a whole in these comments and the industry organisation in particular. Miss Eagle is aware of some of the insightful, innovative techniques undertaken by individual growers to prevent run-off from their farms.


6. The grazing industry now sends more live cattle overseas than it does to meatworks. There are few meatworks in the north these days. The live cattle - and sheep - trade is severely detrimental to animal health and welfare. In fact, it is downright cruel.

So, dear Reader, are you now ready for a reality check after that tirade (minimalist, BTW. More could be said.)? Pop across to these statements by Tim Flannery.