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There are two reasons to increase immigration and development:
1. It will expand Australia's economy. There is a demand for food in the world and agriculture could be achieve in several, but possibly not all, locations in NA and Queensland. Also it sounds like the mines could use more labour so immigrants could boost that sector.
But as I said earlier, the cost of production in those parts of Australia would be incredibly high. Selling a commodity gives you no leverage around prices, you can only charge what the market will pay.
Not only would you need to build huge canals to irrigate the land, you'd also need to in most places import the top soil. It's just a pipe dream. That looks good on a map, but if you've ever been to the Outback you'd realise just how ludicrous what is being proposed in this thread actually sounds.
As for mining, it's labour intensive in the development stage but amount of ongoing labour is low. There has been a big run up in capex in the mining industry which is why there is a labour shortage but this is tapering off fast. It doesn't sound like great economic policy to import unskilled workers for a temporary boom, what do they do when the boom ends?
To give you some idea, this is what you're dealing with out there...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil P
2. It would be a great advantage to the immigrants. Compared to many places in India and other parts of Asia, anywhere else looks appealing even if the weather is super hot.
So I see this as a win win situation. Australians are benifited as their economy would expand and the immigrants would be benifitied with a increase in standard of living and other Asian countries are benifitted with a little less crammed countries.
As a rule, we don't import unskilled labour, outside of refugees and family reunions. We don't need to.
I think many Americans of the Australian desert as being like a bigger version of the American Southwest but, once you see it, you realize it's not. No saguaros here. Pictures don't quite do the vastness and emptiness justice. It's like a Martian landscape.
Though one of the posters mentions perhaps there could be more development at the Top End and northern Queensland, where things are more lush and verdant, the parts that might be more similar to Indonesia. Could that area stand more density and development? There's an Aussie TV series, "The Straits," airing currently on Hulu.com in the US, that was shot in northern Queensland and the scenery is absolutely stunning.
I think many Americans of the Australian desert...
But I'm not talking about developing the Simpson Desert or Alice Springs, I'm talking about developing 40 miles outside of Darwin. Basically the yellow and green areas of this map what I meant conserning interior. I suppose the word interior isn't really the right word and give people the impression of developing the center or the desert parts.
But I'm not talking about developing the Simpson Desert or Alice Springs, I'm talking about developing 40 miles outside of Darwin. Basically the yellow and green areas of this map what I meant conserning interior.
Yes, I wasn't aiming that comment at you, but many Americans I know who do seem to have misconceptions about the Australian desert. And that's why I went on to talk about the more tropical areas near Darwin and northern Queensland and asking if they could possibly handle more development/density. It would seem possible but I don't know the answer.
Those visas don't make you live in the Outback. In most instances you can actually live pretty close to the capital cities. The Southern Highlands, for example, in NSW is only 90 minutes on the freeway to the CBD but is considered regional. Or you could live somewhere like Bungendore, only 20 minutes to Canberra but again excluded. It's a beautiful part of the world too. There's also no restrictions on Adelaide or Hobart.
I know what regional Australia means To me regional Australia is the area between the capital cities and the Outback, which I define roughly as the interior-side half of every state. Anyways, my prediction is the interior of Australia will be developed, if and when highly efficient water desalination and transport technologies become highly affordable. Artificial "mountains" would be very feasible, but the cost to manufacture is very prohibitive. Assuming the conspiracy theories are true, now don't you all get emotional and irrational on me, I said assuming, there's always weather modification. Create centers of low pressure across Australia's interior. All you need is the equipment, which supposedly exists in Western Australia and Alaska, and electricity.
How thin is the top soil, exactly? Is it thin or non-existent like the Canadian Shield? If not, then it is possible to farm using it, our desert soil is good enough for farming, just need to bring in extra nutrients which the rivers already do
Last edited by theunbrainwashed; 01-04-2013 at 10:04 AM..
I have done some research into the interior of Australia since this thread began and it seems that the lowest level of recorded rainfall is approximately 3". I checked a couple of locations, one of them being Alice Springs which has an annual rainfall of about 5", which falls within a two month time-frame in December and January.
It has been proven that with even 3" of annual rainfall can supply sufficient quantities for some minimal agricultural use. Here is a great video showing how successful this process is in India. With the proper infrastructure for rainwater catchment, Australia could benefit greatly from this technology. Even on a much smaller scale, 3" of rain is adequate to supply sufficient water.
I think many Americans of the Australian desert as being like a bigger version of the American Southwest but, once you see it, you realize it's not. No saguaros here. Pictures don't quite do the vastness and emptiness justice. It's like a Martian landscape.
That's what I'm trying to say, but people are talking about inflatible mountains and building canals thousands of kilometres long, to irrigate sand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrueDat
Though one of the posters mentions perhaps there could be more development at the Top End and northern Queensland, where things are more lush and verdant, the parts that might be more similar to Indonesia. Could that area stand more density and development? There's an Aussie TV series, "The Straits," airing currently on Hulu.com in the US, that was shot in northern Queensland and the scenery is absolutely stunning.
It doesn't matter how many people we bring here the outback cannot be developed without fresh water transport and work,industries will never go out to the sticks it costs too much to transport raw materials and bring the end product back to the cities and the coast, it is just not viable. Whoever said we need to populate is probably correct but they do need to have work otherwise we have a small population paying benefits to these people. We can't even get doctors and specialists to come to Tasmania let alone go to the interior.
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