Whatever happened to the idea’s boom? Part of Turnbull’s Innovation Statement; from memory just before the last federal election there was a huge marketing campaign pushing Australia’s drive to be an innovative economy. Is the 43 year old Snowy Mountain Hydro-electric scheme now to become the federal governments beacon for the idea’s boom.
Gee aren’t we poor planners, you would think ensuring a constant supply of affordable power would be a basic for a supposedly developed country like Australia. However it appears to be a major challenge. Changing our economy from resource based to an innovative compatible one appears to even a bigger challenge.
To be still thinking of ring roads around cities to improve the efficiency of transporting freight when you have 480kph mono rail trains able to accommodate fully loaded semi-trailers as well as passengers seems a redundant use of time.
Has anyone in this innovative Government actually considered the bleak future of the airline industry before billions are to be spent on more airports. Plans are already underway to link most continents by very fast trains.
My previously expressed idea of having a very fast train connecting the Great Barrier Reef to Uluru going through Rockhampton is small fry to plans of getting a train in Los Angeles and getting off in Melbourne or Sydney. No not a direct underwater route but up the west coast of USA/Canada across the Bering Strait down Asia through Indonesia onwards to Sydney. You be travelling that fast in an enclosed tube that video screens would placed where windows normally be so you could actually see something of what’s outside other than a blur, be it above or below sea level. It would like a plane without wings, only faster and more leg room apparently.
Then the other election focussed plan for 30 minute commutes to work from the ever expanding western suburbs of capital cities into the CBD. Why keep expanding west adding to existing infrastructure problems and not better utilise the infrastructure of established smaller cities and encourage people to live there using a hyper-loop train commute to their inner capital city workplace in around 20 minutes.
Or instead of getting bogged down with the issues of staffing government head offices relocated to regional cities hyper-loop the senior staff that want to continue residing in capital cities to work in possibly less time than it takes them presently to drive to work.
Whatever happened to the ideas boom? Is anyone in Government that by their own admission in the Innovation Statement was to lead by example looking at how very fast rail can be used to bring our vast country closer? Closer together and with the rest of the world. Are the billions being talked about for new airports, ring roads, 30 minute inner city commutes better spent on the greener mono rail technology?