This report compiles more than a hundred media reports relating to different aspects of the maladministration of the Murray Darling Basin. These articles are sourced from national, state, local and rural publications.

The Australian government bought 29 gigalitres of water for $80m in the Condamine-Balonne valley. The vendors originally insisted on $2,200 per megalitre. But after negotiation, the government paid a higher price - $2,745 per megalitre. Worse, the water has no legal status outside the farm gate and shouldn’t be counted towards the water recovery target.

The former Federal Water Minister, Barnaby Joyce, approved the $17 million purchase of water in the Warrego valley, after criticising the Labor government for the same thing. This was a deal that required amendments to the Basin Plan to later adjust Basin Plan limits between valleys, outside the parliamentary process.

This report highlights that whilst the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) claims to base its recommendations on best available science, the proposed amendments allow the MDBA and the states change the Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs) without considering the science.

This research shows that estimates of impacts on South Australia from proposed changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan have been changed multiple times by the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA).