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Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release  Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Craig Isherwood‚ National Secretary
PO Box 376‚ COBURG‚ VIC 3058
Phone: 1800 636 432
Email: cec@cecaust.com.au
Website: http://cec.cecaust.com.au
 

Australia: Look to Egyptian nation building

Australia must look to Egypt to see what’s possible when a nation has a sovereign mission for development. After the political unrest and protests of 2012‑13, under President Abdel Fattah al‑Sisi, Egypt’s future now looks bright. Just last month, Head of the Suez Canal Authority, Vice Admiral Mohab Mamish said that the Armed Forces have completed 25 per cent of the digging work of the New Suez Canal Project and the new canal will be complete within just one year. An Australian government feasibility study would take longer! On 5 August, President al-Sisi presided over the ceremony commencing the construction of canal and by the next day, under the supervision of the Egyptian Army Corps of Engineers, 7,500 workers began digging.

In the same spirit, Egyptian citizens overwhelmingly supported the financing of the project and the government ensured that funding would be sourced locally—not from parasitical City of London and Wall Street bankers. In just eight days, the Egyptian Central Bank raised 64 billion Egyptian pounds (AU$9.8 billion) through selling investment certificates to the local population. Egyptian nationals jumped at the chance to purchase the non-tradable certificates with a maturity of five years at 12 per cent interest.

An analysis of the purchasers of the Suez Canal Investment Certificates revealed that 42 per cent used money that had been kept at home or in their shops, 38 per cent used bank savings, 13 per cent used Egypt Post savings and 4 per cent sold personal properties such as cars and gold, the Egyptian centre for public opinion research Baseera illustrated in its latest poll.

The Egyptian government has additionally announced its commitment to build other vital infrastructure, of which its intention to reclaim and green the deserts is particularly exciting. Just a few weeks following the announcement of the New Suez Canal Project by President al‑Sisi, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab announced on 30 August that the Toshka irrigation project was to be revitalised to become a national development project. As one of a series of mega agricultural projects, the Toshka Project is designed to create a new delta south of the Western Desert parallel to the Nile, adding 540,000 feddans (226,800 hectares) to Egypt’s cultivated area.

Minister of Irrigation Hossam Moghazy said, “This project is not about irrigation and agriculture; it is a developmental project to get out of the narrow valley to the vast desert, which covers about 60 per cent of Egypt.” The agricultural expansion in Toshka will depend on modern irrigation using pivotal sprinkler and drip systems instead of flood irrigation, which consumes a lot of water.

The Egyptian government has already declared its intention to build the first nuclear power plant at Al‑Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast and another nuclear power station is also proposed. With an expansion of nuclear power, water desalination will help green the deserts. Additionally, the desert areas to be reclaimed sit on top of the world’s largest groundwater aquifer, the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, which has many decades of water supply for the entire region. These areas are also rich with minerals and metal ores such as phosphate, iron, and cobalt, which could become a basis for expanded industrial activities, in addition to agriculture.

These exciting Egyptian developments are not isolated events, but are rather taking place in the context of a massive global backlash to the City of London and Wall Street, in particular led by the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). It is therefore notable that President al‑Sisi’s first trip abroad as President included a stop in Moscow; that he issued a letter of support to Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner against the vulture funds; and that he will visit Brazil this month.

Australia must look to green its deserts and build our nation too! We have numerous projects on the drawing board crying out to be built, from the Bradfield and Reid Schemes in Queensland, the Clarence Scheme in NSW to a high‑speed maglev transportation network. A sovereign nation with a mission and purpose is the best cure for depression and giving the next generation a future.

The CEC prepared a blueprint in 2002 of major infrastructure projects which would transform Australia. Click here for a free copy of that report, “The Infrastructure Road to Recovery”.

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All electoral content is authorised by National Secretary, Craig Isherwood, 595 Sydney Rd, Coburg VIC 3058.