6 years ago
CSIRO dams work provides road map to 15,000 jobs
David Littleproud MP
New dams can create almost 15,000 regional jobs and $4.85 billion in production in northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud said today.
The Northern Australia Water Resource Assessment, completed by the CSIRO, found 7250 jobs could be created in the Mitchell catchment in Queensland, 2845 jobs in the Darwin catchment in the NT, and 4700 jobs in the Fitzroy catchment in WA.
Minister Littleproud said he’d love to see this create the opportunity for indigenous jobs in agriculture.
“This is really exciting news for agriculture and potentially for our indigenous communities in these areas,” Minister Littleproud said.
“This could create permanent jobs and a secure economic future in Indigenous communities in northern Australia. Our Indigenous people have a deep understanding of the land and the water and this fits well with sustainable agriculture.
“Dams and other water projects can bring thousands of jobs to areas where employment is hard to find. Dams grow food, jobs, exports and wealth.
“Projects like these can add $4.85 billion to Australia’s farm production and help get us to the NFF’s ambitious goal of $100 billion of gross farm production by 2030.
“In the modern age, we can do this in an environmentally and socially responsible way.
“In my home state of Queensland, some 7250 jobs could be created in the Mitchell catchment. It would transform the region. The Pinnacles dam site on the Mitchell and the Rookwood dam site on the Walsh could provide 65 per cent of the water CSIRO says could be harvested from the Mitchell catchment.
“The Pinnacles site alone could grow 70,000 ha of spray-irrigated sugarcane and mungbeans.
“Adding 2500 jobs would be huge for the Darwin region. Darwin is ideally placed to export fresh produce to Asia and with dams, could take full advantage of this.
“Adding 4700 jobs to the Fitzroy catchment in northern WA would kick-start wealth and jobs. With vision we can do something great here.
“The Coalition has shown vision by commissioning CSIRO to do this work and now we have a road map to food, jobs, exports and wealth for these regions.”