Political consortium barrier to North development

I WONDER how much development will come from the White Paper on Northern Development.

It seems to me that the usual mental midgets of the Lib Lab Green consortium that runs Australia cannot bring themselves to do anything really meaningful that will develop the North.

If there were anyone with common sense in that consortium, they would push for meaningful expansion of existing northern agricultural areas in the North before pursuing development mirages in the avid inland.

Our agricultural expansion must be based on expansion of existing agricultural areas such as the Atherton Tablelands and the almost continuous strip of coastal lands between Cooktown in the north and Sarina in the south.

The first step should be to do everything we can to increase our rural and small town populations in the North.

People are leaving the rural areas and small towns. The gears of Northern development are currently in reverse. In general terms, the future of Australia does not hinge on the expansion and development of a few capital cities.

The future of all economic and tech- nical development depends very much upon the abundance of reasonably priced electricity.

The many rivers in Northern Queensland’s Wet Tropics mostly flow uselessly into the sea. The Wet Tropics have the greatest hydro- electric potential of all Australia.

HARRISON DUNCAN,

Cardwell.