Water and transport
I COMPLETELY fail to understand the short term thinking common in news articles in relation to both transport and water issues.
Having heard Sir David Attenborough’s G20 speech only reinforces what I think we need to do.
Why are we talking of building yet more dams to increase our water holding capacity when we should only be talking about using less water.
I’m referring to Australia’s 90 per cent of urban/residential/rural-residential population, not farming.
The average water consumption in Cairns is 300l per person, per day, which I think is just ludicrous.
An entire family can live on that for a week in many countries.
The average consumption in Port Douglas is 1200l per person, per day. It’s astounding.
While the Tablelands average probably cannot be calculated as so many properties have unlimited creek/river/ bore usage - which also needs to be changed - I regularly check my metre and have averaged 100l per person, per day, for the last three years.
No, we don’t smell, and yes, we have a garden. We should all be doing that, before we end up like Capetown, or worse. Same with transport. Why are we talking of spending billions on the Kuranda Range road, when there are already two forms of infrastructure that could be used far more effectively?
Others have already suggested using the railway for freight, which makes sense, and could be easily done.
Surely the rail could also cater for locals at a discounted rate to save everyone taking their own car?
And why can’t all of the Kuranda/ Cairns commuters go down and back in the Skyrail, filling their empty cars at peak times?
A government subsidy would still be cheaper for us than building tunnels.
Plus, make carpooling during peak hours compulsory, at least three days a week.
North Queensland could become a shining example on both fronts, to prove we care about our rainforest environment and the Reef, and are doing all we can to look after it.
Maybe our bigger cities would finally take notice if we were the leaders. Jo Zapala, Malanda