— murray darling basin plan.d to give evidence and prevented its agricultural officials from appearing before the enquiry. the report was published in february, just weeks after the death of an estimated million fish. it found gross maladministration and negligence at both state and federal levels along with unlawful activity have undermined the integrity of australia's greatest river system. 100 kilometres upstream from menindee, the town of wilcannia, the darling river has long ago run dry. more than a century ago, this town was one of australia's busiest inland ports. with hundreds of paddle steamers applying the river laden with produce from the land. more than 60% of the town's residents are aboriginal, most of them from the barkindji tribe, known as the people of the river.l them from the barkindji tribe, known as the people of the river. a long time ago, the tribe was born, my mum was a young girl, my grandmother cut a canoe out of beer, see? in this. out of this year. took the bark away, and that's how bi

a network of tributaries flow into the darling river which crosses the region to join the murray riverest at more than 2,500km. the darling river also feeds the menindee lakes. australia's most important agricultural region relies on these rivers and lakes but after the hottest summer on record, most of the darling river has run dry and the lakes are virtually empty. for millennia, the menindee lakes system has been a flourishing ecosystem on the driest continent on earth and a vital lifeline for the outback. but that has all changed. just a few years ago, these lakes were almost 90% full but after a decision by the new south wales state government to decommission the lakes for water storage, they were drained dry, and this is the result. as australia's drought has worsened, and with nothing in reserve, the darling river is now reduced to a few stretches of stagnating water. in december and january, at the peak of summer, a series of massive so—called fish kills, when more than a million fish died, left the country reeling. this is nothing to do with drought. this is a man—made disaste