It was proposed that the water would enter the Thomson River on the western side of the Great Dividing Range and eventually flow south west to Lake Eyre.

G. W. Leeper of the school of agricultural science at the University of Melbourne considered the plan to be lacking in scientific justification.

[citation needed] The scheme had the ability to generate 370 megawatts (500,000 hp) of power and the potential to double that amount.

[5] He proved that Bradfield's estimates of the amount of water available from the easterly flowing rivers were about two and half times greater than it actually was.

The error was attributed to the methodology used to calculate flow estimates which was based on German rivers where the average temperature was much less than in northern Australia.

[9] The Bradfield Scheme has not received broad political support from any of the major Australian parties in recent times, but it has been pushed by individual politicians such as Bob Katter, who advocated the plan whilst he was a member of the Nationals for the state seat of Flinders during the 1980s, and continues to support it as an independent, representing the federal seat of Kennedy.

[citation needed] In February 2007, the then Queensland Premier Peter Beattie urged the Federal Government to look at a modern version, saying it is better to find more water than to cut back on current supplies.

[11][12] In November 2019, the Liberal National Party of Queensland, through the opposition leader Deb Frecklington, provided support of the project as a long term investment.