
Quarterly Essay 77: Cry Me a River
The Tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $10.73
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Margaret Simons
-
By:
-
Margaret Simons
About this listen
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?”
©2020 Margaret Simons (P)2020 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
In Denial
- The Stolen Generations and the Right
- By: Robert Manne
- Narrated by: Peter Byrne
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this national best seller, Robert Mane attacks the right-wing campaign against the "Bringing Them Home" report that revealed how thousands of Aborigines had been taken from their parents. What was the role of Paddy McGuinness as editor of Quadrant? How reliable was the evidence that led newspaper columnists from Piers Akerman in the Sydney Daily Telegraph to Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun to deny the gravity of the injustice done?
By: Robert Manne
-
The Great Reset
- Joe Biden and the Rise of Twenty-First-Century Fascism
- By: Glenn Beck, Justin Trask Haskins
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An international conspiracy among powerful bankers, business leaders, and government officials; closed-door meetings in the Swiss Alps; and calls for a radical transformation of every society on earth - the Great Reset sounds like it is one henchman-with-an-eyepatch away from being the plot for the next James Bond movie. But The Great Reset is not a work of fiction. It is a highly influential movement among the world’s elite to “reset” the global economy using banks, government programs, and environmental, social, and governance metrics.
-
-
Where Do We Go From Here?
- By David on 02-04-22
By: Glenn Beck, and others
-
Dark Future
- Uncovering the Great Reset's Terrifying Next Phase (The Great Reset Series)
- By: Glenn Beck, Justin Trask Haskins
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At important meetings in 2021 and 2022, powerful leaders from government, finance, media, and business who support the World Economic Forum’s plan for a Great Reset of capitalism launched a new “call to action” titled the “Great Narrative.” The Great Narrative campaign seeks to use the decay of traditional values throughout the West and new and future advancements in technology—including in the areas of artificial intelligence, automation, the metaverse, robotics, and more—to seize control of economies and societies in North America and Europe.
-
-
Very good
- By Yup on 07-23-23
By: Glenn Beck, and others
-
This Changes Everything
- Capitalism vs. the Climate
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In This Changes Everything Naomi Klein argues that climate change isn’t just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. It’s an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies.
-
-
Didactic and preachy... and I agree with her
- By plau on 09-25-16
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Great Reset
- And the War for the World
- By: Alex Jones
- Narrated by: Joe Kredjetti
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you really want to know what’s happening in the world, this is the one book you must hear now. Alex Jones is the most censored man on the planet and you should ask yourself why that is. There is a powerful authoritarian takeover in process that is seeking to capture the entire human system and turn it into an artificial factory farm controlled system. We are in a war for the future of the world. In this book, you will hear from the world’s elites, from their own mouths, what they are planning for you and your families and you will learn what you can do to fight it.
-
-
Great Content - Narrator Not Alex
- By Reader on 10-18-22
By: Alex Jones
-
The New Silk Roads
- The Present and Future of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the age of Brexit and Trump, the West is buffeted by the tides of isolationism and fragmentation. Yet to the East, this is a moment of optimism as a new network of relationships takes shape along the ancient trade routes. In The New Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan takes us on an eye-opening journey through the region, from China's breathtaking infrastructure investments to the flood of trade deals among Central Asian republics to the growing rapprochement between Turkey and Russia.
-
-
A Tedious Political Romp Against America
- By A. M. on 11-01-19
By: Peter Frankopan
-
In Denial
- The Stolen Generations and the Right
- By: Robert Manne
- Narrated by: Peter Byrne
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this national best seller, Robert Mane attacks the right-wing campaign against the "Bringing Them Home" report that revealed how thousands of Aborigines had been taken from their parents. What was the role of Paddy McGuinness as editor of Quadrant? How reliable was the evidence that led newspaper columnists from Piers Akerman in the Sydney Daily Telegraph to Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun to deny the gravity of the injustice done?
By: Robert Manne
-
The Great Reset
- Joe Biden and the Rise of Twenty-First-Century Fascism
- By: Glenn Beck, Justin Trask Haskins
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An international conspiracy among powerful bankers, business leaders, and government officials; closed-door meetings in the Swiss Alps; and calls for a radical transformation of every society on earth - the Great Reset sounds like it is one henchman-with-an-eyepatch away from being the plot for the next James Bond movie. But The Great Reset is not a work of fiction. It is a highly influential movement among the world’s elite to “reset” the global economy using banks, government programs, and environmental, social, and governance metrics.
-
-
Where Do We Go From Here?
- By David on 02-04-22
By: Glenn Beck, and others
-
Dark Future
- Uncovering the Great Reset's Terrifying Next Phase (The Great Reset Series)
- By: Glenn Beck, Justin Trask Haskins
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At important meetings in 2021 and 2022, powerful leaders from government, finance, media, and business who support the World Economic Forum’s plan for a Great Reset of capitalism launched a new “call to action” titled the “Great Narrative.” The Great Narrative campaign seeks to use the decay of traditional values throughout the West and new and future advancements in technology—including in the areas of artificial intelligence, automation, the metaverse, robotics, and more—to seize control of economies and societies in North America and Europe.
-
-
Very good
- By Yup on 07-23-23
By: Glenn Beck, and others
-
This Changes Everything
- Capitalism vs. the Climate
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In This Changes Everything Naomi Klein argues that climate change isn’t just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. It’s an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies.
-
-
Didactic and preachy... and I agree with her
- By plau on 09-25-16
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Great Reset
- And the War for the World
- By: Alex Jones
- Narrated by: Joe Kredjetti
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you really want to know what’s happening in the world, this is the one book you must hear now. Alex Jones is the most censored man on the planet and you should ask yourself why that is. There is a powerful authoritarian takeover in process that is seeking to capture the entire human system and turn it into an artificial factory farm controlled system. We are in a war for the future of the world. In this book, you will hear from the world’s elites, from their own mouths, what they are planning for you and your families and you will learn what you can do to fight it.
-
-
Great Content - Narrator Not Alex
- By Reader on 10-18-22
By: Alex Jones
-
The New Silk Roads
- The Present and Future of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the age of Brexit and Trump, the West is buffeted by the tides of isolationism and fragmentation. Yet to the East, this is a moment of optimism as a new network of relationships takes shape along the ancient trade routes. In The New Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan takes us on an eye-opening journey through the region, from China's breathtaking infrastructure investments to the flood of trade deals among Central Asian republics to the growing rapprochement between Turkey and Russia.
-
-
A Tedious Political Romp Against America
- By A. M. on 11-01-19
By: Peter Frankopan
-
Winning the Green New Deal
- Why We Must, How We Can
- By: Varshini Prakash - editor, Guido Girgenti - editor
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Priya Ayyar, Inés del Castillo, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An urgent and definitive collection of essays from leaders and experts championing the Green New Deal - and a detailed playbook for how we can win it - including contributions by leading activists and progressive writers like Varshini Prakash, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Bill McKibben, Rev William Barber II, and more.
-
-
Great read!
- By deeannemcc on 03-21-21
By: Varshini Prakash - editor, and others
-
Why Vote Leave
- By: Daniel Hannan
- Narrated by: Daniel Hannan
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
MEP and award-winning political writer Daniel Hannan argues for a British exit ahead of the coming referendum. Hannan demonstrates that the EU is past its sell-by date, rendered obsolete by technological advances, shrinking economically and less relevant to our economic needs than ever. Worse than that, he shows that the EU can’t reform, can’t be democratic and can’t be divorced from its goal of ever-closer political union.
-
-
A MUST READ EVEN AFTER THE REFERENDUM!
- By Christine on 06-28-16
By: Daniel Hannan
-
The Trump Century
- How Our President Changed the Course of History Forever
- By: Lou Dobbs
- Narrated by: Lou Dobbs
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Trump Century, the indomitable Lou Dobbs explains how Trump has steered the debate every day he has been in politics, greatly expanding what Washington thinks is possible. By 2016, the globalist elites demanded no one speak about limiting illegal immigration or securing our borders. The elites told you communist China would soon be like us, and the PC orthodoxy told you what you could or could not say. You were told America’s Middle Class could never grow again and wages would be stagnant into perpetuity. Trump reversed all of that.
-
-
A dose of honest reality in the era of fake news.
- By Bobby K. Daugherty on 09-23-20
By: Lou Dobbs
-
Truth to Power
- My Three Years Inside Eskom
- By: André de Ruyter
- Narrated by: Nicky Rebelo
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When André de Ruyter took over as Eskom CEO in January 2020, he quickly realised why it was considered the toughest job in South Africa. Aside from neglected equipment, ageing power stations and an eroded skills base, he discovered that Eskom was crippled by corruption on a staggering scale. De Ruyter takes the listener inside the boardrooms and government meetings where South Africa’s future is shaped, with ministers often pulling in conflicting directions, and candidly reflects on his three years at the power utility.
-
-
Precursor to America's societal decay.
- By joel on 11-30-24
By: André de Ruyter
-
Decades of Decadence
- How Our Spoiled Elites Blew America's Inheritance of Liberty, Security, and Prosperity
- By: Marco Rubio
- Narrated by: Marco Rubio
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Decades of Decadence, Marco Rubio exposes the elites’ attacks on the four key elements of American strength: good local jobs, stable families, geographical communities, and a sovereign nation that serves as a beacon of freedom and prosperity. These have been eroded not only by globalization, but by the lies we tell ourselves, including, “Anyone who loves each other is a family,” “Real community can be found on the internet,” and “We’re all citizens of the world.”
-
-
A wake-up call
- By Ken Mahanes on 06-15-23
By: Marco Rubio
-
All We Can Save
- Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
- By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Katharine K. Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Katharine K. Wilkinson, Cristela Alonzo, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All We Can Save illuminates the expertise and insights of dozens of diverse women leading on climate in the United States - scientists, journalists, farmers, lawyers, teachers, activists, innovators, wonks, and designers, across generations, geographies, and race - and aims to advance a more representative, nuanced, and solution-oriented public conversation on the climate crisis. These women offer a spectrum of ideas and insights for how we can rapidly, radically reshape society.
-
-
Saved My Life
- By Taylor Seamount on 11-07-21
By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, and others
-
Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World
- By: Fareed Zakaria
- Narrated by: Fareed Zakaria
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lenin once said, “There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen.” This is one of those times when history has sped up. CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria helps listeners to understand the nature of a post-pandemic world: the political, social, technological, and economic impacts that may take years to unfold. In the form of 10 straightforward “lessons”, covering topics from globalization and threat-preparedness to inequality and technological advancement, Zakaria creates a structure for listeners to begin thinking beyond COVID-19.
-
-
SADLY HOPEFUL
- By Frances J. Freeman on 10-11-20
By: Fareed Zakaria
-
Private Empire
- ExxonMobil and American Power
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 24 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Steve Coll investigates the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States, revealing the true extent of its power. ExxonMobil’s annual revenues are larger than the economic activity in the great majority of countries. In many of the countries where it conducts business, ExxonMobil’s sway over politics and security is greater than that of the United States embassy. In Washington, ExxonMobil spends more money lobbying Congress and the White House than almost any other corporation. Yet despite its outsized influence, it is a black box.
-
-
Please no more accents!
- By Zak on 07-24-12
By: Steve Coll
-
Right Here, Right Now
- Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption
- By: Stephen J. Harper
- Narrated by: Stephen J. Harper
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world is in flux. Disruptive technologies, ideas, and politicians are challenging business models, norms, and political conventions everywhere. How we, as leaders in business and politics, choose to respond matters greatly. Right Here, Right Now sets out a pragmatic, forward-looking vision for leaders in business and politics by analyzing how economic, social, and public policy trends - including globalized movements of capital, goods, and services, and labor - have affected our economies, communities, and governments.
-
-
Excellent book on Politics for Canadians AND Americans
- By John Fernandes on 10-19-18
-
Consequences of Capitalism
- Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance
- By: Noam Chomsky, Marv Waterstone
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do politics shape our world, our lives, and our perceptions? How much of “common sense” is actually driven by the ruling class’ needs and interests? And how are we to challenge the capitalist structures that now threaten all life on the planet? Consequences of Capitalism exposes the deep, often unseen, connections between neoliberal “common sense” and structural power. In making these linkages, we see how the current hegemony keeps social justice movements divided and marginalized. And, most importantly, we see how we can fight to overcome these divisions.
-
-
Everyone must read this book.
- By Lydia M. Prado on 02-03-21
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
-
A Bigger Picture
- By: Malcolm Turnbull
- Narrated by: Malcolm Turnbull
- Length: 25 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Candid and compelling, A Bigger Picture is the definitive narrative of Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership. He describes how he legalised same-sex marriage, established Snowy Hydro 2.0, stood up to Donald Trump and many achievements – remarkable in their pace and significance, and that they were delivered in the teeth of so much opposition. But it’s far more than just politics. Turnbull’s life has been filled with colourful characters and controversies, success and failure.
-
-
Well Told, but One-sided
- By Bryan on 03-31-21
By: Malcolm Turnbull
-
On Fire
- The Case for the Green New Deal
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Naomi Klein - introduction, Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An instant best seller, On Fire shows Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but also as a spiritual and imaginative one. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of “perpetual now,” to the soaring history of humans changing and evolving rapidly in the face of grave threats, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of “climate barbarism,” this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink.
-
-
Preaching to the choir, but nobody else.
- By Fountain of Chris on 09-25-19
By: Naomi Klein