Murray-Darling basin plan likely to be unlawful, leading lawyer warns

Bret Walker, who chairs South Australia's royal commission, says authority made fundamental legal error in setting water target

One of Australia's foremost lawyers has issued an extraordinary warning that the Murray-Darling basin plan is likely to be unlawful because the authority overseeing it made a fundamental legal error when it set the original 2,750-gigalitre water recovery target in 2012.

Bret Walker SC, who chairs the South Australian royal commission into the Murray-Darling basin plan, issued the warning in a second issues paper. He also spelled out the far-reaching implications of the plan being unlawful.