Jennifer Marohasy is a ?senior fellow? with the Institute of Public Affairs, ?an independent, non-profit public policy think tank, dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of economic and political freedom?.

According to the IPA website, ?Concerned that public policy on environmental issues is increasingly driven by moral crusading, rather than objective science or need, Jennifer works to provide an important counterpoint in public debate and discussion. Jennifer contends that if we really care about the environment, we will want to understand how it really is, and not deny ?good news? stories.?

Sadly, her own understanding of the crisis in the Murray-Darling is clearly limited, as demonstrated by her recent article in ?The Land?, in which she advocates that the barrages at the Murray Mouth ?be opened to let the water run from the lower lakes out to sea?.

We must assume from these comments that Dr Marohasy is not aware that the river level at the next barrage, at Blanchetown, some 270 kilometres from the Murray mouth, is currently around 500mm below sea level. If the Goolwa barrages were opened as she suggests, water would certainly flow, but in the opposite direction to that expected by Dr Marohasy, turning the entire length of Murray from Blanchetown to the mouth into an inlet of the Southern Ocean.

Fair Water Use (Australia) doubts whether many Australians would view this as a ?good news? story.

We are not sure how Dr Marohasy is able to engage in finger-pointing whilst her head is so deeply embedded in the sand (or should that be acidic mud). The plight of the Murray-Darling is a result of over-exploitation of the entire basin; the solution must therefore involve bold decisions being taken which will have long-term consequences for all users of the river system, from the cotton plantations in the north to the dairy farms and wineries of the south.

Some would say that the communities of the Lower Murray are already paying a high price, with a large and increasing number of farmers left with no choice but to walk off the land due to lack of safe water.

It is common knowledge that vast dams constructed by cotton industry to the north are currently brim full of water which would otherwise have flowed into the Darling, reviving the entire system - So much excess water that it has been reported that cotton-corporates intend to commence aquaculture in their man-made lakes. Perhaps Dr Marohasy views this as a potential ?good news? story.

We cannot save the Murray-Darling without experiencing significant pain, but the suffering must be equally shared. At the moment, Dr Marohasy, this is clearly not the case.