Is it though? I mean some people live there but it cannot support a population. With a long enough drought, Australia's desertification will continue and its ability to support large population will decrease as well.
Water supply is the issue. The Aborigines' distant ancestors had the world's most advanced seafaring technology 40,000 years ago, but the environment was so harsh and hostile they just barely clung on, and regressed technologically. At a minimum the Australians need to build solar-powered water desalination plants on a massive scale, and water works to collect flood waters.
Desal may be too little too late. Here in Sydney the desal plant is operating at full capacity and supplying 15% (250Ml/day) of needs. There is talk of expanding it to 30%, but how many years off will it be when the surface water supply is already down to 40% storage capacity? Oh and of course the desal plant doesn’t actually serve the entire city, mush less the metro.
