KEY POINTS:
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has resurrected a 70-year-old scheme, first floated by Sydney Harbour Bridge architect John Bradfield, to fix the Murray-Darling river system by diverting water from the rain-soaked north.
The plan, costed at A$1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) in the 1980s, has drawn a mixed reaction, including fears it could lead to a "civil water war" among Queensland councils and create an environmental and economic disaster for the nation.
