Drought, the Menindee fish kills and the South Australian Royal Commission have put the Murray Darling firmly in the public spotlight. The management of the northern Basin and the role of the cotton industry are central to ongoing policy debate.

This research by the Australia Institute suggests that the Darling River fish kill was due to the mismanagement of the Menindee Lakes in southwest New South Wales.

An audit written by Ernst and Young (EY) found the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, and the near $3.2 billion worth of water it controls, was at risk of being defrauded by state agencies, individual officers within those agencies and private landholders. The Australia Institute has published this analysis of the released documents.

Stakeholders in the Lower Darling are strongly opposed to proposed changes to the Menindee Lakes. Local member, Kevin Humphries, has proposed a new ‘Option 7’ for the Lakes, aiming to deliver more water and local jobs.

This report is the first in a series that highlights how the Murray–Darling Basin Plan has increased the flow of money and water to big agribusinesses and has increased the vulnerability of everyone else in the Basin– Aboriginal people, floodplain graziers, downstream communities and small irrigators.