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Quarterly Essay #77
Cry Me A River: The Tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin
The Murray–Darling Basin is the food bowl of Australia, and it's in trouble. What does this mean for the future - for water and crops, and for the people and towns that depend on it? In Cry Me a River , acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons takes a trip through the Basin, all the way from Queensland to South Australia. She shows that its plight is environmental but also economic, and enmeshed in ideology and identity. Her essay is both a portrait of the Murray–Darling Basin and an explanation of its woes. It looks at rural Australia and the failure of politics over decades to meet the needs of communities forced to bear the heaviest burden of change. Whether it is fish kills or state rivalries, drought or climate change, in the Basin our ability to plan for the future is being put to the test. “The story of the Murray–Darling Basin...is a story of our nation, the things that join and divide us. It asks whether our current systems - our society and its communities - can possibly meet the needs of the nation and the certainty of change. Is the Plan an honest compact, and is it fair? Can it work? Are our politics up to the task?”
150 pages, Paperback
Published March 23, 2020
30 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Simons
26 books21 followersMargaret Simons (b 1960) is an Australian academic, freelance journalist and author. She is currently the media commentator for Crikey and has written ten books.
She is currently Director of the Centre for Advanced Journalism at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Melbourne.
Simons was a finalist for a Walkley Award for journalism in 2007 for the story Buried in the Labyrinth, about the release of a pedophile into the community, published in Griffith Review and her book The Content Makers – Understanding the Future of the Australian Media was longlisted for the 2008 non-fiction book Walkley award.
Simons also writes for The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Monthly. For many years, she wrote the "Earthmother" gardening column for The Australian.
Simons has a doctorate from the University of Technology, Sydney and was co-founder, with Melissa Sweet, of the community-funded news site YouComm News. She lives in Melbourne.
(from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...)
She is currently Director of the Centre for Advanced Journalism at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Melbourne.
Simons was a finalist for a Walkley Award for journalism in 2007 for the story Buried in the Labyrinth, about the release of a pedophile into the community, published in Griffith Review and her book The Content Makers – Understanding the Future of the Australian Media was longlisted for the 2008 non-fiction book Walkley award.
Simons also writes for The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Monthly. For many years, she wrote the "Earthmother" gardening column for The Australian.
Simons has a doctorate from the University of Technology, Sydney and was co-founder, with Melissa Sweet, of the community-funded news site YouComm News. She lives in Melbourne.
(from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...)
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 2, 2022
This is a bloody masterpiece of a Quarterly Essay, an exemplar of the form. Simons makes the intricacies of water politics both perspicuous and compelling. She knows how to chart a clear narrative path through wide, knotted landscapes of detail, to get straight to the point without oversimplifying, to empathise without partisanship, and to create a sense of local voice and landscape without affectation. Most of all, she knows how to tell a story. I was gripped. This, for me, is up there with those few pieces of reportage that successfully recast Australian politics as tragedy instead of farce: something important, even poignant, even with all its mess and mishap in full view. As a bonus, Simons’ narration on the audio edition is excellent, further augmenting the tone of the writing: wry, pragmatic, grim.
April 27, 2020
Margaret Simmonds opens this Quarterly Essay by introducing Badger Bates, a Barkandji elder who grew on the Lower Darling, an area they refer to as the Barka. With all our white fella modernism and progress we have so successfully exploited, damaged and destroyed much of his environment while the Aboriginal people lived in a balanced harmonious situation for tens of thousands of years.
Simons notes that all the rivers carry the names of early white colonists, Darling, Macquarie, Lachlan, Murray (named in honour of the then British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.) The Barwon, Murrumbidgee River, Menindee Lakes are all Aboriginal names.
There is no sole individual or agency that has led to tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin but rather a cultural of individuals demanding access to the water resources without any consideration for others who also wish access. At times it has been the politically powerful and stentorian who have controlled this access.
Simmonds is a talented writer/journalist. Her work is a joy to read.
“I drove across the Hay plains, so flat I could detect the curvature of the
Earth. The road trains swam towards me through water mirages. There
were curtains of rain when I was there, and the overpowering smell of
water on dry. The land glowed orange.”
“On the road from Wilcannia to Broken Hill there were willy-willies
all over the plain, the columns of red dust rising to the sky like
pillars in the vast hall of the inland.”
There is a large amount of information and data in the text. The author explains megalitres and gigalitres, an important understanding when discussing the MDB.
It appears that the Murray/Darling Basin is divided into two camps, the Southern and Northern Basins. It appears the Northern boys are the cowboys, the cotton growers, the ones with political contacts and influence. Yet the Southern farmers aren’t innocent compliant irrigators. Some say when there is a release of water for an environmental flow down river farmers just take more water.
It is interesting that the two most profitable crops are cotton and almonds. The cotton farmers have been very effective in their crop/ water ratios. It also appears that rice is on the decline.
I can remember in the middle 1990s my work took me to Moree. I remember driving down the main street and thinking it had a Mosman feel. Don’t be fooled there are some wealthy people in the Basin. Their kids were more likely to go to Kings, Riverview and Toowoomba Grammar than Moree High and they had close contact with the powerful in the National Party. Big company run farms are the norm in the north of the Basin.
There is a discussion about the infamous Cubbie Station, now owned by the Chinese textile giant Shandong Ruyi and Macquarie Bank. It is a most efficient endeavour and has grown through careful management and political patronage, nevertheless it takes a sizeable amount of water from the system, especially with floodplain harvesting.
Throughout the essay Simons mentions and meets many basin players, farmers, scientists, politicians and bureaucrats. Bret Walker SC headed the South Australian royal commission, led the Pell high court appeal and now leading the Ruby Princess cruise investigation. Bill Keelty, former head of the Australian Federal Police and now Interim Inspector-General of Murray-Darling Basin Water Resources. There is a long list of politicians, Barnaby Joyce, David Littleproud, Penny Wong, Susan Ley.
In today’s (23 April 20) there is an article where NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro claims that NSW farmers had been sacrificed for the environmental objectives of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The MDB is constantly in and out of the media.
Farming neighbours John Norman and Chris Lamey are in dispute over water removal. Accused water thief and one of the state’s biggest cotton growers, Peter Harris and whistleblower and larger than life character Brewarrina’s mayor Phillip O’Connor (aka Ocker) make appearances.
One very interesting character is Chris Brooks a local Barooga boy who grew to become CEO of Glencore, only to return to the family farm in 2012. Brooks is a masterful political operator, supporting the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and been a thorn in the side of the National Party. He plays the angry man role effectively. If he was a green supporter the irrigators would call him a ratbag. He argues that environmental flows are a wasteful use of water that could be better used by irrigators to grow food to feed Australia, and increase these irrigators incomes.
Global warming is mentioned generally not dismissed but appears to be a problem on the horizon that most are concerned with at the moment. Most of the irrigators are dismissive of the concept of environmental flow.
This area of Australia has been drowned (pun intended) in reports, enquiries, commissions and investigations. Simons does not offer a culprit or a solution but the reader soon realises that there are many players in the Basin and most are out to protect their own interests. There seems little chance of agreement amongst the stakeholders of the Murray-Darling Basin and things will just stumble on from crisis to crisis. Rather disheartening.
I will conclude by quoting Simon’s metaphor that she uses at the end of her essay. She is on the highest point of Hindmarsh Island in Lake Alexandria.
“Hindmarsh Island is suspended above the narrow channel
Like a baby waiting to be born. This is the root of the tree,
where it all begins. Or where it ends.”
This essay is a must read for those Australians who want to be informed about this complex problem Australia faces.
White Australians are taking note of traditional Aboriginal bush burning techniques. Aborigines knew that the land was finite and knew not to take too much at anyone time. We need to acknowledge that the water is finite.
Simons notes that all the rivers carry the names of early white colonists, Darling, Macquarie, Lachlan, Murray (named in honour of the then British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.) The Barwon, Murrumbidgee River, Menindee Lakes are all Aboriginal names.
There is no sole individual or agency that has led to tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin but rather a cultural of individuals demanding access to the water resources without any consideration for others who also wish access. At times it has been the politically powerful and stentorian who have controlled this access.
Simmonds is a talented writer/journalist. Her work is a joy to read.
“I drove across the Hay plains, so flat I could detect the curvature of the
Earth. The road trains swam towards me through water mirages. There
were curtains of rain when I was there, and the overpowering smell of
water on dry. The land glowed orange.”
“On the road from Wilcannia to Broken Hill there were willy-willies
all over the plain, the columns of red dust rising to the sky like
pillars in the vast hall of the inland.”
There is a large amount of information and data in the text. The author explains megalitres and gigalitres, an important understanding when discussing the MDB.
It appears that the Murray/Darling Basin is divided into two camps, the Southern and Northern Basins. It appears the Northern boys are the cowboys, the cotton growers, the ones with political contacts and influence. Yet the Southern farmers aren’t innocent compliant irrigators. Some say when there is a release of water for an environmental flow down river farmers just take more water.
It is interesting that the two most profitable crops are cotton and almonds. The cotton farmers have been very effective in their crop/ water ratios. It also appears that rice is on the decline.
I can remember in the middle 1990s my work took me to Moree. I remember driving down the main street and thinking it had a Mosman feel. Don’t be fooled there are some wealthy people in the Basin. Their kids were more likely to go to Kings, Riverview and Toowoomba Grammar than Moree High and they had close contact with the powerful in the National Party. Big company run farms are the norm in the north of the Basin.
There is a discussion about the infamous Cubbie Station, now owned by the Chinese textile giant Shandong Ruyi and Macquarie Bank. It is a most efficient endeavour and has grown through careful management and political patronage, nevertheless it takes a sizeable amount of water from the system, especially with floodplain harvesting.
Throughout the essay Simons mentions and meets many basin players, farmers, scientists, politicians and bureaucrats. Bret Walker SC headed the South Australian royal commission, led the Pell high court appeal and now leading the Ruby Princess cruise investigation. Bill Keelty, former head of the Australian Federal Police and now Interim Inspector-General of Murray-Darling Basin Water Resources. There is a long list of politicians, Barnaby Joyce, David Littleproud, Penny Wong, Susan Ley.
In today’s (23 April 20) there is an article where NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro claims that NSW farmers had been sacrificed for the environmental objectives of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The MDB is constantly in and out of the media.
Farming neighbours John Norman and Chris Lamey are in dispute over water removal. Accused water thief and one of the state’s biggest cotton growers, Peter Harris and whistleblower and larger than life character Brewarrina’s mayor Phillip O’Connor (aka Ocker) make appearances.
One very interesting character is Chris Brooks a local Barooga boy who grew to become CEO of Glencore, only to return to the family farm in 2012. Brooks is a masterful political operator, supporting the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and been a thorn in the side of the National Party. He plays the angry man role effectively. If he was a green supporter the irrigators would call him a ratbag. He argues that environmental flows are a wasteful use of water that could be better used by irrigators to grow food to feed Australia, and increase these irrigators incomes.
Global warming is mentioned generally not dismissed but appears to be a problem on the horizon that most are concerned with at the moment. Most of the irrigators are dismissive of the concept of environmental flow.
This area of Australia has been drowned (pun intended) in reports, enquiries, commissions and investigations. Simons does not offer a culprit or a solution but the reader soon realises that there are many players in the Basin and most are out to protect their own interests. There seems little chance of agreement amongst the stakeholders of the Murray-Darling Basin and things will just stumble on from crisis to crisis. Rather disheartening.
I will conclude by quoting Simon’s metaphor that she uses at the end of her essay. She is on the highest point of Hindmarsh Island in Lake Alexandria.
“Hindmarsh Island is suspended above the narrow channel
Like a baby waiting to be born. This is the root of the tree,
where it all begins. Or where it ends.”
This essay is a must read for those Australians who want to be informed about this complex problem Australia faces.
White Australians are taking note of traditional Aboriginal bush burning techniques. Aborigines knew that the land was finite and knew not to take too much at anyone time. We need to acknowledge that the water is finite.
April 23, 2020
Right now, you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing else is happening in the world today, except for COVID_19. And I bet there's more than one politician who's hoping that the pandemic means this Quarterly Essay doesn't get the attention it deserves.
That's not going to happen if I can do anything about it!
First, a quick briefing for overseas readers.
(And in case you're wondering why you should care, this issue involves the threats to numerous endangered species of international importance, not to mention Australia's food bowl, which exports to the world).
Ok, got that? It's a very large part of Australia, and it covers four states and a territory which means managing it involves six governments by the time you include the federal government. And manage it we must because we cannot go on as we are. (As Dorothea Mackellar's poem says) Australia is a land of drought and flooding rains. (And she wrote that in about 1904, before Climate Change was even thought of.) It's a bit like the situation with the Rhine in Europe, except that when we're in drought there's not enough water in the Basin to please everybody. Irrigators in Qld, NSW and Victoria (i,e. Australia's food bowl) don't have enough water for their crops; wetlands protected under the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands of International Importance dry up; tens of thousands of fish die; and the river silts up in South Australia and has to be dredged 24/7 to enable the supply of fresh sea-water into the Coorong National Park, which would be catastrophic for the bird life there. The social costs should give anyone pause for thought.
As you know if you've read my reviews of her books, Margaret Simons is one of Australia's best journalists, and this essay is the best, most comprehensive explanation I've read of the troubled efforts to manage these competing interests: agriculture, business, environment, recreation and the interests of the First Nations on whose land these issues arise.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/04/23/c...
That's not going to happen if I can do anything about it!
First, a quick briefing for overseas readers.
(And in case you're wondering why you should care, this issue involves the threats to numerous endangered species of international importance, not to mention Australia's food bowl, which exports to the world).
The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia. Its name is derived from its two major rivers, the Murray River and the Darling River. The basin, which drains around one-seventh of the Australian land mass, is one of the most significant agricultural areas in Australia. It spans most of the states of New South Wales and Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, and parts of the states of Queensland (lower third) and South Australia (southeastern corner). The basin is 3,375 kilometres (2,097 mi) in length, with the Murray River being 2,508 km (1,558 mi) long.Most of the 1,061,469 km2 (409,835 sq mi) basin is flat, low-lying and far inland, and receives little direct rainfall. The many rivers it contains tend to be long and slow-flowing, and carry a volume of water that is large only by Australian standards. (Wikipedia, lightly edited to remove links and formatting, viewed 22/4/20).
Ok, got that? It's a very large part of Australia, and it covers four states and a territory which means managing it involves six governments by the time you include the federal government. And manage it we must because we cannot go on as we are. (As Dorothea Mackellar's poem says) Australia is a land of drought and flooding rains. (And she wrote that in about 1904, before Climate Change was even thought of.) It's a bit like the situation with the Rhine in Europe, except that when we're in drought there's not enough water in the Basin to please everybody. Irrigators in Qld, NSW and Victoria (i,e. Australia's food bowl) don't have enough water for their crops; wetlands protected under the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands of International Importance dry up; tens of thousands of fish die; and the river silts up in South Australia and has to be dredged 24/7 to enable the supply of fresh sea-water into the Coorong National Park, which would be catastrophic for the bird life there. The social costs should give anyone pause for thought.
As you know if you've read my reviews of her books, Margaret Simons is one of Australia's best journalists, and this essay is the best, most comprehensive explanation I've read of the troubled efforts to manage these competing interests: agriculture, business, environment, recreation and the interests of the First Nations on whose land these issues arise.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/04/23/c...
March 11, 2023
Cry Me a River by Margaret Simons is an exceptional essay describing the state of the Murray Darling Basin and the key issues facing its long-term recovery. This essay was authored in 2019, and a lot has changed, but the fundamentals remain. My summary of the critical issues is below (based on the 2019 reading).
The Murray Darling Basin is Australia's largest and most complex river system. This "food bowl" of Australia produces $24 billion worth of food (a third of Australia's total food supply) and fibre (cotton predominantly) per year and attracts $11 billion in tourism annually. The Basin, spanning QLD, NSW, VIC, SA and ACT, is the heartland of rural Australia with several local communities, including 40 Aboriginal nations, and is a unique habitat for hundreds of animal and plant species. To put it simply, the Basin is fundamental to the livelihood of all Australians.
The Basin is in serious trouble and has been for many years now. Overuse and poor water management for irrigation, especially for water-hungry cotton and almond farming, means less water is returning to the environment, resulting in problems such as soil salinity and loss of habitat. The millennium drought surfaced these issues, especially the politics and in-fighting between the states around water management, with people downstream blaming upstream counterparts for overusing water.
Using the drought as an impetus, in 2007, the Howard government proposed the Water Act to gain a national agreement on water management between the states across the Basin. The Act, also known as the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP), became law in 2012 under the Gillard government. The plan, an investment of $13 billion, entailed returning 2750 GL/y of water to the environment by 2024 through water buybacks from farmers in lucrative parts of the Basin and investment in infrastructure to make water use more efficient. Additionally, return a further 450 GL/y of water (by 2024) through investment in efficiency projects that reduce water losses through irrigation.
The MDBP is very ambitious, and executing it has involved dealing with complexities across political and technological dimensions.
The key issues that faced execution are:
1. Several structural differences in the northern and southern basins demand a tailored solution to specific needs
2. The Cotton Club politics that the National Party heavily influences
3. Uncertainty created by the NSW government's constant threats to withdraw from the plan or change its commitments
The Northern and Southern basins have several structural differences. The rivers in the Northern Basin are more "boom or bust" as they primarily depend on rainfall-generated flows from tributaries. On the other hand, snow melt and rainfall feed the rivers in the Southern Basin, making it a more prosperous and lucrative part of the overall Basin. Furthermore, there are several big dams and storage facilities, modern meters, regulated water entitlements and better compliance in the Southern Basin.
It's not just the geographical challenges that concern the Northern Basin but also the cotton club politics resulting in cotton growers engaging in water theft, building private dams and influencing the rules around water extraction limits through their powerful cotton lobby. The National Party has played a pivotal role in supporting the cotton lobby in exchange for huge donations to the party. The National Party networks run deep, going back to the elite private schools where the farmers and the polis, including Barnaby and Littleproud, played for the same rugby teams, worked in the cotton industry in their early careers and how all of them stuck together.
The Murray Darling Basin occupies 75% of NSW land areas, which is fundamental to NSW’s economy and the livelihood of its regional communities. NSW has consistently challenged the MDBP and has been the least compliant state, especially in contributing to the additional water target of 450 GL derived from water efficiency projects. NSW has taken a strong position that they have contributed more than enough towards the water-saving targets and will not do any more. This is evident from their lack of commitment to delivering project plans for the 22 water-saving projects that will eventually contribute toward the 450 GL target. NSW argues that SA should lift barrages and allow seawater into Lake Alexandria and use the fresh water for agriculture upstream. However, SA has maintained that seawater cannot be used to keep the lakes. Several reports have been released justifying SA’s position.
As it stands in 2022, the MDBA has made good progress on returning close to 2100 GL/y of water to the environment. Still, there is a significant risk of delivering the additional c.1000 GL/y (605 + 450) of water through supply and efficiency projects, primarily due to the reluctance and lack of commitment from the NSW Government. If these targets are not achieved by 2024, the federal government will be forced to engage in water buybacks until the targets are achieved. This process will be highly controversial and potentially impact the environment negatively.
Sadly for Australians, the saga will continue, and it is very likely that in the very long term, we will not have a flourishing and prosperous Murray Darling Basin.
The Murray Darling Basin is Australia's largest and most complex river system. This "food bowl" of Australia produces $24 billion worth of food (a third of Australia's total food supply) and fibre (cotton predominantly) per year and attracts $11 billion in tourism annually. The Basin, spanning QLD, NSW, VIC, SA and ACT, is the heartland of rural Australia with several local communities, including 40 Aboriginal nations, and is a unique habitat for hundreds of animal and plant species. To put it simply, the Basin is fundamental to the livelihood of all Australians.
The Basin is in serious trouble and has been for many years now. Overuse and poor water management for irrigation, especially for water-hungry cotton and almond farming, means less water is returning to the environment, resulting in problems such as soil salinity and loss of habitat. The millennium drought surfaced these issues, especially the politics and in-fighting between the states around water management, with people downstream blaming upstream counterparts for overusing water.
Using the drought as an impetus, in 2007, the Howard government proposed the Water Act to gain a national agreement on water management between the states across the Basin. The Act, also known as the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP), became law in 2012 under the Gillard government. The plan, an investment of $13 billion, entailed returning 2750 GL/y of water to the environment by 2024 through water buybacks from farmers in lucrative parts of the Basin and investment in infrastructure to make water use more efficient. Additionally, return a further 450 GL/y of water (by 2024) through investment in efficiency projects that reduce water losses through irrigation.
The MDBP is very ambitious, and executing it has involved dealing with complexities across political and technological dimensions.
The key issues that faced execution are:
1. Several structural differences in the northern and southern basins demand a tailored solution to specific needs
2. The Cotton Club politics that the National Party heavily influences
3. Uncertainty created by the NSW government's constant threats to withdraw from the plan or change its commitments
The Northern and Southern basins have several structural differences. The rivers in the Northern Basin are more "boom or bust" as they primarily depend on rainfall-generated flows from tributaries. On the other hand, snow melt and rainfall feed the rivers in the Southern Basin, making it a more prosperous and lucrative part of the overall Basin. Furthermore, there are several big dams and storage facilities, modern meters, regulated water entitlements and better compliance in the Southern Basin.
It's not just the geographical challenges that concern the Northern Basin but also the cotton club politics resulting in cotton growers engaging in water theft, building private dams and influencing the rules around water extraction limits through their powerful cotton lobby. The National Party has played a pivotal role in supporting the cotton lobby in exchange for huge donations to the party. The National Party networks run deep, going back to the elite private schools where the farmers and the polis, including Barnaby and Littleproud, played for the same rugby teams, worked in the cotton industry in their early careers and how all of them stuck together.
The Murray Darling Basin occupies 75% of NSW land areas, which is fundamental to NSW’s economy and the livelihood of its regional communities. NSW has consistently challenged the MDBP and has been the least compliant state, especially in contributing to the additional water target of 450 GL derived from water efficiency projects. NSW has taken a strong position that they have contributed more than enough towards the water-saving targets and will not do any more. This is evident from their lack of commitment to delivering project plans for the 22 water-saving projects that will eventually contribute toward the 450 GL target. NSW argues that SA should lift barrages and allow seawater into Lake Alexandria and use the fresh water for agriculture upstream. However, SA has maintained that seawater cannot be used to keep the lakes. Several reports have been released justifying SA’s position.
As it stands in 2022, the MDBA has made good progress on returning close to 2100 GL/y of water to the environment. Still, there is a significant risk of delivering the additional c.1000 GL/y (605 + 450) of water through supply and efficiency projects, primarily due to the reluctance and lack of commitment from the NSW Government. If these targets are not achieved by 2024, the federal government will be forced to engage in water buybacks until the targets are achieved. This process will be highly controversial and potentially impact the environment negatively.
Sadly for Australians, the saga will continue, and it is very likely that in the very long term, we will not have a flourishing and prosperous Murray Darling Basin.
Read
December 17, 2024A real page-turner, I couldn't put it down!
June 30, 2025
Foundational reading for anyone wanting a thorough understanding of an issue that will affect all Australians- the security of our water and food production.
April 2, 2020
When I finished this book, I was unsatisfied. I had wanted some sort of synthesis and insight: I've traveled the land, I've spoken to the farmers, I've interviewed the experts...here's the conclusion I've drawn. Instead, I was left with a series of episodes and different moments from history. It seemed to lack a capstone.
Then I checked the front cover. The subtitle is "the tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin". And I began to feel a bit better about it all. Simons isn't attempting to solve the problem, or even to synthesis it. Rather, she is apparently aiming to stage the tragedy, to show how human foibles and fallibilities have led us to the place we are today. This is perhaps a more honest telling - it would be arrogant for Simons to lay claim to an insight about the one incredible solution. Presumably, if it were that simple, the problem would be solved.
So overall I feel like Simons didn't overpromise and underdeliver. But I remain somewhat unsatisfied. I would have liked to gain more of a clear outlines of the situation, what's wrong, what solutions have been offered. Maybe this isn't possible? But instead I am offered a collage of different opinions and reflections from individuals canvassed in the work.
Then I checked the front cover. The subtitle is "the tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin". And I began to feel a bit better about it all. Simons isn't attempting to solve the problem, or even to synthesis it. Rather, she is apparently aiming to stage the tragedy, to show how human foibles and fallibilities have led us to the place we are today. This is perhaps a more honest telling - it would be arrogant for Simons to lay claim to an insight about the one incredible solution. Presumably, if it were that simple, the problem would be solved.
So overall I feel like Simons didn't overpromise and underdeliver. But I remain somewhat unsatisfied. I would have liked to gain more of a clear outlines of the situation, what's wrong, what solutions have been offered. Maybe this isn't possible? But instead I am offered a collage of different opinions and reflections from individuals canvassed in the work.
May 21, 2020
I have wanted for so long to understand the issues around the water use in the Murray-Darling - for so long I've seen the river systems declining, read about fish kills, heard about cotton and almonds and various bastardry from and between various state govts and the Feds - but have never managed to get to grips with why? What are the problems really? What is really happening, and why? How can we fix it? Is anyone really trying? Or is climate change, incompetence and political favours for mates really going to kill the whole basin along with all its people and food production forever? Here Margaret Simons is the right person at the right time - a talented journalist investigating and writing it up in terms that I can understand. It IS complex, and there are no easy answers or solutions - but she outlines it clearly, with real sympathy for the difficulties faced by many of the affected, and leaves little doubt that this is one of the biggest problems facing Australia today, it is struggling to stay level let alone get any better, and unless we fix the politics,its probably going to get a lot worse. Essential reading, in long-form investigative journalism form that really suits this "essay" length. If you ever wanted to know about the Murray-Darling Basin Plan or the critical state of water in Eastern Australia - read this. Its in your newsagents now, Aussies.
January 24, 2023
A comprehensive breakdown of one of Australia's most challenging and complex environmental issues. It's also rare that an academic essay makes something more accessible - hoping this encourages more metropolitan Aussies to engage with the issue.
July 10, 2020
Cry Me a River by Margaret Simons is an illuminative essay that attempts to explain the technical complexities of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and its corrupted implementation, at a time in which the Plan is unravelling. In doing so, the excellence of Simons’ journalism is such as to make this complexity meaningful through personable case studies and interviews with landowners, bureaucrats and academics associated with the Murray-Darling Basin.
Simons speaks of the participants living in a society but certainly not capable of being a community. I can’t help but wonder how the commodification of water came about, in which the life force of a thirsty nation can be traded separately to how it is to actually used by particular farmers and the environment. To my mind, the wrongly-perceived superiority of the market-place under 40 years of neo-liberal ideology, together with its associated corruptive influences, has brought Australia’s major river system to its knees. In this respect, I am reminded of the global financial crisis a decade earlier in which the complexity and opaqueness of mortgage backed securities, property swaps and subprime loans rendered them indecipherable, allowing the greedy to profit from the misfortunes of others. We are, indeed, in a post-truth world.
Cry Me a River is a sad, but gripping read. There doesn’t appear to be a happy ending in sight for the Murray-Darling Basin but Cry Me a River is a major contribution to its understanding. Highly recommended.
Simons speaks of the participants living in a society but certainly not capable of being a community. I can’t help but wonder how the commodification of water came about, in which the life force of a thirsty nation can be traded separately to how it is to actually used by particular farmers and the environment. To my mind, the wrongly-perceived superiority of the market-place under 40 years of neo-liberal ideology, together with its associated corruptive influences, has brought Australia’s major river system to its knees. In this respect, I am reminded of the global financial crisis a decade earlier in which the complexity and opaqueness of mortgage backed securities, property swaps and subprime loans rendered them indecipherable, allowing the greedy to profit from the misfortunes of others. We are, indeed, in a post-truth world.
Cry Me a River is a sad, but gripping read. There doesn’t appear to be a happy ending in sight for the Murray-Darling Basin but Cry Me a River is a major contribution to its understanding. Highly recommended.
August 27, 2020
This essay is told from a personal viewpoint, as Simons travels throughout the river system, but not in a geographically methodical way from headwaters to mouth. She interviews farmers, lobbyists, bureaucrats and academics, and spends lots of time on country roads, striding over paddocks, scrambling up dams, and in pubs. ...This essay is valuable for taking a whole-of-system approach, integrating the perspectives and realities of a river that crosses four states and even more landscapes. It includes personal perspectives as well as the politics, and it provides a good background for watching as the next steps in this sorry, conflicted saga play themselves out.
For my complete review, please visit
http://residentjudge.com/2020/08/27/q...
For my complete review, please visit
http://residentjudge.com/2020/08/27/q...
October 25, 2020
A searching, thoughtful look at what is going on with water allocations in Australia's most important river system. A little unbalanced in its overview - Victoria is barely mentioned, NSW and SA get the majority of the page count and even Queensland doesn't get that much attention - which can be attributed to this being a book about the problems of the system (although a fairer look at the potential road ahead should include the whole system). Still, I learned a lot about a very complex issue from reading it.
December 4, 2020
One of the main points of this fine essay (Cry Me a River) was to point out the difficulty in achieving cross border cooperation in the Murray Darling plan. From this it can be (and is) implied that many of the monitoring methods are inadequate and open to corruption, and many of the ways in which irrigation farmers have of acting within the parameters of the agreement wouldn't be allowed if the agreement was worded more effectively.
The remainder of this this essay contained reviews of, and explanations of, "Red Flag".
The remainder of this this essay contained reviews of, and explanations of, "Red Flag".
September 10, 2020
Water policy isn’t the most engaging topic when you can look out your window and see the effect of a pandemic playing out, but it doesn’t make it any less important. Finishing this a few days after announcements to scrap the plan plastered television screens and newspapers, this essay has left me deeply concerned about the sustainability of water in Australia.
December 21, 2020
Take a bow, Margaret, a masterclass in essay writing and a critical read for every Australian. She tells the absolute tragedy that will be apparent to all in the coming decades. Hers pairs well with another excellent piece of storytelling a few years back in the ABC's Background Briefing. Do yourself a favour and look it up.
July 18, 2023
Above all this is as clear a distillation of just how fraught and contentious the management and politics of the Murray Darling Basin is. Even something as articulate and wide ranging of this though can only tell part of the story and can’t help but have its own biases. A good primer for those interested though.
October 12, 2020
One of the most complicated essays I have read in this series! Very well written and explained. A clear policy failure is obvious but the solution is certainly not. Such a federalist mess. This is a very good read.
April 8, 2020
3.5 / 5
April 11, 2020
Once again Quarterly Essay has produced an excellent essay with top notch journalism on a very fraught issue in Australia.
July 4, 2020
"'Once Australia was proud of people like me,' he said. Now - he squinted at me - 'the country and the city really don't understand each other, do they?'"
Read
July 14, 2020A powerful and chilling account of the mismanagement of one of Australia's most extraordinary natural features. The subtitle says it all: 'The Tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin'. A must read.
October 25, 2020
A well-written, humane and evocative essay on an Australian issue I confess I knew absolutely nothing about before.
February 2, 2021
A really good overview of the problems of the Darling River.
July 23, 2021
Every Australian should read this!!
May 21, 2020
Margaret Simons has written an engaging history of Australia's Murray-Darling basin, describing the tragic conflict over water in which no one seems to be a winner.
After witnessing the withering Darling River, she goes looking for the water further upstream and fails to find it. While there are some references to fraud and corruption, this is not the real issue. In general, there are no real villains in this story. This tragedy is no-one's fault; just a consequence of an enormously complex river and regulatory system that traverses multiple jurisdictions.
Simons unsettles by reminding us (almost in passing) that existing allocations fail to take into account the effects of climate change, meaning 'all this work, all the meetings, all the politics - none of it would be enough.' This book has no happy ending, no resolution of the issues that have bedevilled this country for 100+ year. Simons beautifully describes the problem, but leaves us with no sense of how it might be resolved.
After witnessing the withering Darling River, she goes looking for the water further upstream and fails to find it. While there are some references to fraud and corruption, this is not the real issue. In general, there are no real villains in this story. This tragedy is no-one's fault; just a consequence of an enormously complex river and regulatory system that traverses multiple jurisdictions.
Simons unsettles by reminding us (almost in passing) that existing allocations fail to take into account the effects of climate change, meaning 'all this work, all the meetings, all the politics - none of it would be enough.' This book has no happy ending, no resolution of the issues that have bedevilled this country for 100+ year. Simons beautifully describes the problem, but leaves us with no sense of how it might be resolved.
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