Murray Darling White Paper

The release of the Murray Darling white paper has brought the expected howls of rage. It has always struck me as strange that we should be using vast amounts of water to produce cotton in competition with some of the most impoverished African countries (and with subsidised US production), the situation not so different with rice. Since nothing tangible will flow from the paper for several years, Riverland producers of grapes will use their present entitlements to produce 100,000 tonnes of surplus grapes (or thereabouts), sell them at a loss, and top up the amount of surplus wine needing to be exported in the face of a very strong Australian dollar.