Murray-Darling Basin Authority
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water portfolio
Verified figures
- Contracts (all years): 206
- Contract value (all years): 203,956,205 AUD
- Contract value (2026): 7,295,800 AUD
- APS headcount: 411
- Budget 2026-27: 187,519 thousand AUD
- Highest total remuneration: 525,560 AUD
- Directory roles: 24
Figures use publishable matches only (alias, abn, exact, case, punct, trading_name, wide_exact). Retrieved 2026-09-01.
Coverage — named in the headline (15)
- 2024-12-11 — Murray-Darling Basin Authority announces new leadership
- 2024-12-08 — ANAO adds Murray Darling Basin Authority to naughty list
- 2020-12-20 — First Indigenous member joins Murray-Darling Basin Authority board
- 2020-09-04 — MDBA to lose enforcement powers with creation of new body
- 2020-08-20 — Movers & shakers: former defence force chief to chair Murray-Darling Basin Authority
- 2020-05-28 — Movers & shakers: promotions at Murray-Darling Basin Authority
- 2019-11-14 — Movers & shakers: first Indigenous chair to MDBA subcommittee
- 2019-11-05 — MDBA accuses 60 Minutes of breaching code of conduct
- 2019-10-25 — Location, location, location: what was actually wrong with the ‘incorrect’ MDBA report
- 2019-02-24 — MDBA chief denies maladministration, says whistleblowers ‘entitled to their opinions’
- 2019-02-21 — Flooded with criticism, MDBA finds a small island of common ground
- 2019-02-07 — Murray-Darling Basin Authority digs in against royal commission, full response weeks away
- 2018-02-21 — MDBA board: don’t let water-sharing plan go down the gurgler
- 2016-08-15 — Thirst for engagement driving Glyde’s MDBA decentralisation plan
- 2015-11-30 — New MDBA chief has the experience to bridge troubled waters
Passing mentions (10 shown)
Mentioned in the text but not the headline, so often not about this agency.
- 2026-08-13 — Movers & Shakers: Retirements and departures aplenty
- 2026-08-05 — Bureau of Meteorology launches strategic review
- 2026-05-28 — Movers & Shakers: CEO named to government radar company
- 2026-05-14 — DCCEEW does heavy lifting on budget repair
- 2026-04-29 — Home Affairs starts redundancy drive
- 2026-04-07 — Central agencies offer redundancies across APS
- 2025-10-09 — Movers & Shakers: Queensland overhauls economic agencies
- 2025-07-24 — Fish still floundering as Murray-Darling plan delivers mixed results
- 2025-07-04 — Gallagher directs regulators to cut the clutter
- 2024-12-12 — Movers & Shakers: Net Zero Economy Authority opens its doors
Names over time
What each source called this agency, and in which years. Taken from the sources themselves, not from a register of establishment dates — those are not published.
| Reported as | Source | Years | Rows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murray Darling Basin Authority ⚠️ | APSC APS Employment Data | 2010-11 to 2021-22 | 2,174 |
| Murray Darling Basin Authority ⚠️ | APSC agency metrics | 2010-11 to 2021-22 | 138 |
| Murray-Darling Basin Authority | Annual report KMP disclosure | 2018-19 to 2024-25 | 136 |
| Murray-Darling Basin Authority | Annual report governance tables | 2018-19 to 2024-25 | 48 |
| Murray-Darling Basin Authority | AusTender (names as at today, not as at the contract) | 2019-20 to 2026-27 | 206 |
| Murray-Darling Basin Authority | APSC APS Employment Data | 2021-22 to 2025-26 | 817 |
| Murray-Darling Basin Authority | APSC agency metrics | 2021-22 to 2025-26 | 108 |
| Murray-Darling Basin Authority | Portfolio Budget Statements | 2024-25 to 2029-30 | 40 |
⚠️ This agency has not always carried its current name. Figures in the earlier years were reported as Murray Darling Basin Authority (2010-11 to 2021-22). They are shown here because the series is continuous, not because the agency is.
Workforce profile — as at 2025-12-31
| Measure | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| % CALD | 15.4% | at this date |
| % Female | 58.2% | at this date |
| % Indigenous | 3.6% | at this date |
| % at the APS classification level | 46.7% | at this date |
| % non-ongoing | 8.8% | at this date |
| % part-time (ongoing employees) | 13.1% | at this date |
| % who have worked in only one agency (ongoing employees) | 60.5% | at this date |
| % with a bachelors degree or higher | 86.6% | at this date |
| % with a disability | 6.1% | at this date |
| Exit rate - from agency (ongoing employees) | 12.9% | Year ending December 2025 |
| Headcount | 411 | at this date |
| Mean Age (years) | 43.9 years | at this date |
| Median LOS in APS (years) | 5.5 years | at this date |
| Separation rate - from APS (ongoing employees) | 8.6% | at this date |
APSC APS Employment Data, counting this agency including any bodies beneath it. Headcount, not FTE — the APSED release does not publish FTE.
Year by year
| Measure | 2010-11 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APS headcount | 314 | 312 | 300 | 301 | 321 | 321 | 307 | 309 | 308 | 296 | 296 | 323 | 414 | 448 | 426 | |
| SES | 13 | 68 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | ||||||||||
| Contracts | 15 | 5 | 39 | 34 | 33 | 44 | 32 | 4 | ||||||||
| Contract value | $16,284,683 | $3,678,949 | $29,914,150 | $57,641,109 | $33,577,940 | $33,987,458 | $27,070,751 | $1,801,164 | ||||||||
| Budget ($000) | 203,034 | 187,519 | ||||||||||||||
| KMP disclosed | 17 | 10 | 20 | 15 | 22 | 26 | 14 | |||||||||
| Top total pay | $452,763 | $488,152 | $455,752 | $397,466 | $506,032 | $504,280 | $525,560 |
An empty cell means no publishable row for that year — unknown, not nil. Never read a blank as a fall to zero. ⚠️ This agency has not always carried its current name. Figures in the earlier years were reported as Murray Darling Basin Authority (2010-11 to 2021-22). They are shown here because the series is continuous, not because the agency is.
Sources — annual reports
Each link opens transparency.gov.au — the published source the figures were read from. The label names the table to look for.
° The portal does not publish a path for this report, so the link opens the agency's reports on transparency.gov.au rather than that year directly. Pick the year from there.
