Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

When Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as Brazil's president in January, he spoke of a national effort to fix the country's economy and to rid it of crime and corruption. Now, two sweeping bits of legislation will reveal whether Mr. Bolsonaro's government can deliver on those promises.

And there's a big-budget science fiction film out called The Wandering Earth. You know the

kind of thing. The planet is saved through gritty collaboration and daring do. But the themes

seem suspiciously aligned with the philosophy of China's leader.

First up, though,

one of the largest rivers in the world is drying up.

We need a healthy river on our station because it literally is a pinnacle way of life

where we are without it.

We just won't survive.

The Murray-Darling Basin in southeastern Australia

is a body of water larger than Ethiopia.

But mismanagement and overproduction of crops such as cotton

are causing it to dry up.

Hundreds of thousands of fish have died this year

and whole sections of the river are without water altogether. Kate McBride

is a fifth generation sheep and cattle farmer from Tolano Station, which sits at the banks of the

Darling River. She's been campaigning for better water management to try and save her animals and the

river. I'm standing on the base of the Darling River. I'm about 100 metres below the Burke Weir.

Now there is no water coming down at all.

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