coalition policy for up north

Various media sources have advised us of leaks of the Coalition's draft plans for Australia's North.

In essence it boils down to building more dams to transform Australia's North into Asia's food bowl. I'm sure that coal mines will feature in there somewhere as well though!

I must admit that I have some sympathy with the suggestion of piping water from the North to Perth - IMO we will need a national water grid to cope with the 50m people who will live her by 2060.

But when asked about it Tony Abbott was his normal no-committal, weather-vane self; keeping every option open, making no firm commitments and creating the illusion that he will deliver everything to everybody.

Then there was the throw-away figure of $35b to fund the plan; given the $70b shortfall currently facing the Coalition's already announced commitments; that ups the ante to $105b more that what Labor is committed to.

I wonder if Abbott knows anything about Australia's soils, salinity issues in storage dams, the impact of dams on the existing environment, why the Dartmouth Dam was built in the Alps instead of near Mildura, the cost of connecting all these schemes into power and water grids, the meaning of 'monsoon climate' ... ?

Of course, the answer is almost ccertainly; "NO!".