Really, "farmers remain confident .." Actually, there would hardly be a farmer in the country that does not know perfectly well that the Rudd/Ross report is an absolute crock of the proverbial. It is so bad as to constitute both criminal conspiracy to misinform the policy process, and, when all is said and done, treason to boot. The total lack of critical examination of this issue by the mainstream media is clear evidence that they are in complete abrogation of their duty as reporters of public record. Andrew Bolt reported yesterday that the "Task Farce" made no attempt at all to investigate potential Dam sites because they were told that each State/Territory already had a "No Dams" policy in place. So here we have a Brisbane based State government that had to be dragged kicking through the courts to stop them building the wrong Dam for purely urban use while castrating a report on Dams for use by farmers. No real surprise there, eh? The report that claims to rule out Dams didn't even investigate the issue.

Just turn the whole of QLD into a food bowl!

McDonald is probably correct in the comments in that it now is emerging that the Task Force 'disregarded" future dams as an option based on lack of political interest by then Labor governments in all of the NT, Qld and WA. It does not rule out local storage however eg turkey nest dams filled using peak wet season flows in the rivers for smaller scale irrigation.....this WILL happen. The report does not appear to examine plant genetic and breeding needs to develop suitable varieties for the regions. this has been a major issue for over 50 years. While I believe the mosaic development has much merit, the issue of suitable varieties remains. as for livestock development .......there is much to achieve still, but we still do not have local meat processing anywhere in the north.

Quite frankly, I think the main problem is the lack of labour in the north. This will get worse as the government does not have a sensible system temporary workers from overseas. If we can't get sufficient labour to the North Queensland coastal farms how do we expect to find the labour for the more remote areas?

Terry, Qlds full of dole bludgers, ferals and rednecks - surely we could some of these people to work!

The biggest problem is the fact that all the land up there is leased land, completely without tenure and owned by the "State"; either by the NT Government or the Commonwealth, in the case of indigenous land its held in trust by the Commonwealth. I think it is about 80% of the land mass in the NT that is indigenous trust land. The NT Government is not and has never been inclined to allow Fee Simple Grants in the NT for agriculture; therefore how is farming going to get started? Would you spend millions on development without tenure??? Would a bank lend millions to develop the land into farming communities without security?? The real issue is security of tenure, that old fashioned thing called land “ownership”...

Queenslanders, I ask you one question: Would you like to be told you can only eat 150 grammes of fish a month from your local fishing hole? This is what signs are saying all around beautifull Sydney Harbour. More people, more pollution, more environmental destruction - guaranteed.