The announcement by a major consortium of some of Australia's and France's largest companies of their proposal to build and operate a water supply canal from the Kimberley has been warmly welcomed by Water Resources Minister Ernie Bridge.
Mr Bridge said the proposal embodied most of what he had advocated for the past six years, including development of major agricultural industries, water for adding value to industries in the Pilbara, competitively-priced water for Perth, and the easing of environmental pressure on the South-West by avoiding further dams and borefields.
"I am delighted to see the corporate sector putting its weight behind the concept. It has demonstrated the vision which Australia needs to get on to a fruitful path into and through the next century," he said.
"Hopefully, the consortium's credentials and their confidence that the concept is bankable, will cause the cynics to rethink their claims that moving Kimberley water overland is a fanciful idea which could not be afforded."
Mr Bridge said he was amused at how quickly the Court-led Opposition had embraced the North-West cotton industry which was a feature of the consortium's proposal.
He said that, unlike the Opposition, the Government had for two years been steadily moving towards establishing a cotton industry.
"Our efforts have already attracted proposals from both international and Australian interests, which are being considered by the State Government," he said.
This included proposals from private sector interests in the USA and New South Wales, with the proponents having already inspected the Fitzroy Valley, and in one instance, begun trial plantings, with good yields and quality.
Steps already taken by the Government to secure a cotton industry included:
· Department of Agriculture assistance with the harvesting of private sector trial plantings in the West Kimberley, 1991-92;
· Water Authority technical support for assessing groundwater potential for cotton irrigation in the Pilbara;
· commissioning by the Kimberley Water Resources Development Office of a Fitzroy Valley irrigation concept plan and preliminary investigation into the development of a cotton industry; and -
· invitations to key directors of the Australian Cotton Foundation to visit the Kimberley to assess the region's potential, particularly the Fitzroy Valley.
Mr Bridge said the Eastern States cotton industry was now at the limit of available land and water, and the Pilbara and Kimberley were viewed by the industry as ideal for future expansion.
Cotton is Australia's fourth largest agricultural export, valued at $1 billion a year. Ninety per cent of production is exported - 70 per cent to markets in close proximity to the North-West (Japan, Korea and Indonesia).
