CRITICS say a Federal Government report into developing opportunities in Australia's north raises more questions than it answers, writes LESLIE WHITE

There's a part of Australia where rainfall is higher than any farmer could imagine.

Where resources are untapped, rivers burst their banks, soils are fertile and from which Australia could potentially feed Asia, so the legend goes.

But the Federal Government's Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce has found differently, prompting a mixed response from lobby groups and politicians.

The report, Sustainable Development of Northern Australia, released earlier this month, does not rule out further agricultural development, farm leaders say.

However, there is acceptance the ailing Murray Darling Basin - which Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said this week could potentially be producing 90 per cent less food by 2100 - cannot be replaced with a food bowl in the north any time soon.

The report calls for more reports. Its first three recommendations call for further research into:

  • Climate, rainfall and land.
  • Groundwater resources and salinity risks.
  • Land and water-use planning.
  • Little relevant data has been collected on any of these topics.

The report recommended farms be located according to groundwater supplies and that irrigated agriculture could sustainably expand from 20,000ha to 60,000 ha.

It advised farms could be developed in a "mosaic" pattern, with natural land scattered in between to minimise environmental impact.

National Farmers' Federation president David Crombie, who was on the taskforce, said the report had taken a "cautionary approach".

"The CSIRO work said there was ... not a lot of rainfall data, some river data, not much on groundwater, not much on aquifers and how they link with each other," Mr Crombie said.

"(But) I can't believe there's not additional groundwater available; we need to quantify that."

The report points out several issues with building dams in the north, including the unsuitable topography in the higher reaches of most rivers where dams would traditionally be placed.

Another concern was the high evaporation rates in the north's stifling heat.

"There are only a handful of sites for dams," Mr Crombie said. "But there are sites where dams could be possible further down the track."

The taskforce findings prompted strong criticism from north Queensland federal MP Bob Katter, who said there had been "not a person on it (the taskforce) that knew a thing about farming", a claim that bemused Mr Crombie.

Meanwhile, Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan, who was originally chairman of the taskforce before the change of Government in 2007 saw him replaced, labelled the document a "nothing report".

"It points to the obvious, that we need more research," Senator Heffernan said.

"It should have put up some proposals and funding requests."

He also branded the figure of an extra 40,000ha of sustainable irrigation for the region "a guess", as relevant data was unavailable.

The taskforce hadn't considered opportunities for dams as per its instructions from the CSIRO, Senator Heffernan said.

Australia had a "moral obligation" to properly investigate the north's capacity to produce food as the world's population grew, he said.

"It's not a can-do report," Senator Heffernan said.

"We need fire and enthusiasm. We need to meet the challenge, not duck it."

Queensland horticulture organisation Growcom's chief advocate Rachel Mackenzie said the report highlighted the need for a national food security plan to conserve and expand areas already producing food.

"We're letting those areas be overtaken by mines and urban encroachment and saying "we'll move to the great untapped plains of northern Queensland'," Ms Mackenzie said.

"There are severe limitations in accessing that area."

She said governments seemed to accept mining using massive volumes of water but did not accept the same from agriculture.