We need to get this clear, the 500 Gigalitres is highly misleading. It is actually 500gL a year or 10,000gL over the next 20 years. And that 10,000gL will be taken from farmers whose total output will fall. In many cases this drop in total output will be greater than the profit margin and so, will be forced to operate at below cost levels or get out.

At $50 for each megalitre the capital cost of this annual entitlement is about $1000 each. But that doesn't tell us how much value the farmer creates with that megalitre. It varies depending on the crop or industry but total revenue of $600 from each megalitre is likely to be the mid-range.

And each agricultural dollar generally produces about $3.30 in downstream activity as it circulates through the local economy between mechanics, tradesmen, transporters and processors. So each withdrawn megalitre puts a $2000 hole in a regional economy. Thats $2 million per gigalitre.

So, once again, the bush has been shafted for an ignorant urban whimsy. The farmers will get a lousy, once off, $500 million when part of their water entitlement is bought off them but their local community will get a billion dollar hole punched in their regional economy, each year. And the net present value of this hole, on the standard price to earnings ratios, will be in the order of $12 billion.

And for what? To maintain a level of flow that is, in most years, well in excess of the pre-settlement footprint. Landscaping for the bimbocracy.

I don't want to get technical, but what do I make of things when paddling my canoe in Berri, (Berri is about halfway along the Murray) my dark shorts quickly show salt stains, I get salt crust on my arms and I can taste it in the water. ?

That really is happening, whatever your politics or academic or journalistic talents.
One more thing. It's not just the Murray. Consider the effect upon many thousands of people if the murray is allowed to fail. You have to consider the downstream effect. (pun intended).

Can't we stop abusing the Murray to produce unsustainable crops and let nature have a go?

Oh no, the Man of la Mancha again, Perseus championing the "bags per acre" or "miles per gallon" brigade. Perseus, get this straight, what you are using are “multipliers” long obsolete which for example can show our economy is 1.5 to 3 times its actual size when applied to all sectors of the economy. Not only are your multipliers naïve, they don’t take into account the long term, ie. environmental and extended economic costs.

Perseus, in the 1980s arguments like “shafted” as you have used were applied linked to multipliers. We live in the 21st century where the FULL ECONOMIC cost is considered. Wander down to the mouth of the Murray River and see what your current cost accounting is achieving. Go join your “bags per acre”, “miles per gallon” colleagues that you want to champion. Triple bottom line accounting, that acknowledges the long term, full costs, is increasingly acknowledged. Your "shafting" is perhaps relevant to those operating without long term, full cost accounting. Australia is becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Perseus championing the "bags per acre" or "miles per gallon" brigade again. Perseus, get this straight, what you are using are “multipliers” long obsolete which for example can show our economy is 1.5 to 3 times its actual size when applied to all sectors of the economy. Not only are your multipliers naïve, they don’t take into account the long term, ie. environmental and extended economic costs.

Perseus, in the 1980s arguments multipliers died out with the Industries Assistance Commission. We live in the 21st century where the FULL ECONOMIC cost, including to the enviroment is considered. Wander down to the mouth of the Murray River and see what your current cost accounting is achieving. Go join your “bags per acre”, “miles per gallon” colleagues that you want to champion. Triple bottom line accounting, that acknowledges the long term, full costs, is increasingly acknowledged. Your use of "shafting" is perhaps relevant to those operating without long term, full cost accounting. Australia is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Some hold on to the past. Like the Man of la Mancha championing those with their backs to the future.

I think its high time we declared South Australia, uneconomic, & unsustainable, & closed it down. After all, its only an accident of settlement, & obviously a mistake.
I think Queensland, NSW, & Victorian water could be put to much better use in those states rather than keeping this dead end going.
It is a totally failed & wasteful experiment, & should be closed down due to lack of interest.