Waste not versus want not
There isn't a water shortage in Brisbane. There is a people oversupply.
The population of Brisbane has more or less doubled over the last twenty years. This has been deliberately brought about, by government with the active collusion of industry. Like most spectacular follies, it was done out of greed. Growth, you see, has marvellous economic advantages.
Trouble is, it also has incredible disadvantages, like traffic jams and outrageous housing costs, not to mention running out of water. Smaller yards. You get charged for dumping your rubbish. We didn't get charged for that when I was a kid, because there wasn't so much of it, because there weren't so many of us. Been fishing lately? Nothing but catfish, and even the catfish look sick.
OK, the growth happened and now we live in shoeboxes and experience the joys of peak hour traffic every day on the way to work. You can't ride your bicycle, it's too dangerous on the crowded and disrepaired roads.
Where's the economic bonanza? Did it turn out to be a fairy story, or is it a pork-barrel, promised endlessly and forever out of reach?
The truth, as ever, is both less and more than the telling. The profits were real, but to avoid being robbed by the government, the building industry spent them on enlarging the building industry. A handful of building tycoons did grow a little fatter but most of the leftovers vanished into tax coffers to pay for services and infrastructure for all the extra people.
So on the whole, nobody got rich and now you can't wash your car or have a decent shower.
Government and industry leaders seem to think they can farm consumers. If they had it in them to really do this they'd know what any farmer can tell you - it's a dry country. There's only so many cattle you can run before you have to either cart feed and water or start slaughtering.
There are really only two solutions that can work: massive population reduction or large-scale desalination. Our brilliant leaders don't seem inclined to do either.
For my own part I can always go home. My hometown, despite the drought, has so much water there are no restrictions on the use of untended sprinklers. Fortunately Rockhampton is far enough away from Brisbane to protect it from water theft by pipeline.
How is it that Rocky has plenty of water but most places don't? Rocky didn't suffer from rampant growth, so water use didn't grow much. That, however, wasn't enough to protect the adjacent Livingston shire from water problems in this drought, so what else?
The lack of growth meant that public works capabilities weren't consumed by expansion. Rockhampton was, and hopefully always will be, very different. Brisbane's leaders wore suits, took themselves seriously and stimulated industry by immigration, which in hindsight wasn't the smartest thing to do. Rockhampton, by contrast, had Sexy Rexy.
Properly known as Mayor Rex Pilbeam, he wore shorts, not suits, and was trebly famous for opening council meetings with a deafening blast into his handkerchief, for groping female staff (hence the nickname) and last but definitely not least for the construction of major public works of lasting value. Instead of stimulating the economy by expansion, he stimulated it by building better infrastructure for the people already there. This strategy is less popular with people who'd like to increase their net worth without actually doing anything useful, but the value to the the whole community is similar in the short term and and vastly greater in the long.
Those works include the Pilbeam Theatre and accompanying art gallery, which is something of a jewel in the civic crown and draws some good acts because it's quite a good theatre. Then there's the Sound Shell, which is a concert venue that has hosted groups like INXS and Dire Straits. But the largest and most important thing Sexy Rexy built was the barrage. Rockhampton sits on the Yeppen Flood Plain. Rex built a bucket so big you can catch a flood and keep it. He ruined a deepwater port to do it, which wasn't popular - but they aren't sorry now.
It was quite a big project. It cost a bomb. He invited surrounding shires to share in the costs. They declined. Now they want the water. Little Red Hen, I say. If they want the water then they owe thirty years of contributions to construction and maintenance, plus credit costs.
If Rocky's so marvellous why don't I bloody well go back there? Not a bad idea. There isn't anything you can do in Brisbane that you can't do in my hometown.
Except get an IT job with reasonable pay.
There's no logical reason for this. The bulk of the clientèle for the company for which I work consists of local government works departments, trucking companies and half a dozen major minesites around the South Pacific. The trucking companies generally have main offices in their depots in Rockhampton, which is geographically central and forms a transport nexus for road, rail and sea bulk tranport. The minesites are clustered around Central Queensland (ie around Rockhampton) except for one which is in another country altogether. All our suppliers are Sydney-based. Our prototype manufacturing could easily be relocated to Rockhampton; all we need is benches and power.
We could operate just as effectively from Rocky, with rather lower costs, shorter commutes and a ready supply of graduates and undergrads from a major university. Maybe I'll start suggesting it. Nice place to raise kids, too.