​This Issues Backgrounder covers recent fish kills in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB). It focuses on the investigations into three large fish kills that occurred near Menindee on the Darling River over the 2018-19 summer.

Of most significance for policy makers, the investigations broadly agreed on the three long-term causes of the fish kills: the current drought; and two human-induced causes which have exacerbated the effects of the drought – water management policies, and climate change. The paper also considers the impact of the fish kills on local and Indigenous communities, and provides an update on the current condition of the MDB.