Adam Kay

1/5 It’s a basic tenet of journalism to get the facts right @GuardianAus @ToryShepherd The 450GL was not embedded in the Water Act 2007. It was announced five years later by Gillard on 26 October 2012 as a last minute promise to SA. This is easy to look up and verify.

5/5 and finally, @GuardianAus is misleading readers to keep reporting only 2GL of the 450 has been recovered, as if that’s all the Basin Plan has delivered, without putting that in the context that 2100 GL has already been recovered toward the Plan’s core target. @lenoretaylor

4/5 journalists rightly don’t accept anything industry says without checking - they should apply the same scrutiny to what others claim. In this case, @ToryShepherd has reported incorrect claims about the 450, which could easily have been cross-checked.

3/5 The 450 is also not mandatory; not least as participation is voluntary. The October 2012 hydrology report used to justify the 450 says clearly it’s primarily intended to benefit the Chowilla floodplain in the Riverland, not the Coorong.

2/5 Basin Plan sets out (17.7) the ways the 450 can be recovered; buybacks is not one. Tony Burke on ABC Country Hour in October 2012 said buybacks were not on the table due to socioeconomic concerns, the Plan’s target was 2750 GL (not 3200 as some claim) & the 450 was an extra