Neal Hughes, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES); David Galeano, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), and Steve Hatfield-Dodds, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
Marking farms more water-efficient pushes up prices twice as much as buying water back.
Farmers rally outside Parliament House on Monday, December 2 2019. The most important drivers of farmer exit in the Murray-Darling Basin are changing climate, economics and demographics.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Buybacks by open tenders were a successful, cost-effective way of returning water to the Murray-Darling Basin. They should never have been abandoned.
The failure of infrastructure subsidies is no surprise to economists that have studied the problems of the Murray-Darling Basin for decades.
Dean Lewins/AAP
The controversy over the water purchase is based on an old story; the election has enabled it to be resurrected for a powerful fresh spin around the political circuit.
The federal government committed to reducing water extraction from the Murray-Darling Basin.
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