The Wilderness Society has slammed the Federal Government’s plan to attract Chinese investment to agricultural development in northern Australia, labelling it a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The Gillard Government has spoken of plans to encourage investment in the north of the country from Chinese investors, in a bid to develop agricultural land.
But Wilderness Society spokesman Gaven McFadzean has told the ABC the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce determines some time ago that the region was not ever going to become the ‘foodbowl’ the government is portraying.
"It is virtually in drought (for) seven or eight months of the year, evaporation is very high," he said.
"The geology and the topography of northern Australia does not suit major dam construction.
"It is very flat and most of the rainfall falls very close to the coast, so dam construction is very hard.
"Overwhelmingly the soils of northern Australia are impoverished and nutrient poor."
Last month farming groups dismissed Prime Minister Gillard’s declaration that Australia can be a ‘foodbowl’ for Asia, saying current policies are killing their businesses, not helping them.
In the same month, there were also reports that a Chinese investment group has made a bid to buy 15 000 hectares in the Kimberly for beef and sugar production to meet the demand of China's rising middle class.
The company, trading as Kimberly Agricultural Investments (KAI) apparently wants to purchase the entire Ord Expansion Project in Western Australia’s Kimberly region, according to The Australian.
The Ord is newly irrigated land which comes with permanent water rights attached.
KAI is proposing to build a $100 million sugar mill and an abattoir which could process 500 000 cattle per year on the land, if it wins the entire 15 000 hectares of Stage-2 land.
It wants to be able to grow up to 40 000 hectares of sugar crops in the region.
It has been reported that KAI’s indented production on the land will aim to meet the demands of China’s growing middle class for more sugar, beef and biofuel.
The WA government is spending $311 million expanding the Ord irrigation scheme and 14 companies and individual farmers are vying for a part in it as it becomes one of Australia’s major food regions.
But McFadzean said previous studies have shown irrigated agriculture in northern Australia could only be expanded by about 40 000 hectares and that the federal government’s plans are not realistic.
"We are extremely concerned by the scale and size of what is being proposed across northern Australia … very large agriculture and development projects involving dams on rivers, major land clearing, major new infrastructure, with significant environmental impacts," he told the ABC.
"We think (it) will be a waste of taxpayers' money."