Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 27 September. Top stories The Murray-Darling Basin Authority knew about allegations of substantial water theft as early as July 2016 but took no serious action until an ABC Four Corners investigation broadcast new claims a year later, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal. The authority did not take any direct action on the findings, instead passing them on to state enforcement agencies. And its report on the investigation removed the data that appeared most damning and scrubbed all explicit references to the evidence of unlawful water extraction. The revelations have led to conservationists arguing the MDBA should not conduct a review itself, saying the authority failed to take appropriate action when it uncovered the evidence. The MDBA told the Guardian it had reviewed the data from the review and concluded it was flawed and did not uncover evidence of illegality – a position that aligns with the landholder about whom the allegations were made, and who vigorously denies any wrongdoing. An 18-year old Sydney man with two mothers says he has been denied a vote on marriage equality despite the fact he is properly enrolled to take part in the postal survey. Patrick Cairnduff is "incredibly frustrated" at the prospect that the peers who bullied him at school will get the right to vote on whether his mothers can marry while he could be excluded. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has said it will investigate the case after it was unable to verify Cairnduff's details when he reported not receiving a survey form – the first known example of someone enrolled to vote before 24 August being denied a form. At least six senior Trump administration figures are reported to have used private email accounts for official White House business, with Ivanka Trump and her husband and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, caught up in the breach. None of those named are believed to have broken the law, however, the reports have the potential to cause serious embarrassment to Donald Trump, whose election campaign was built in part on regular and heavy criticism of Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of state, with chants at Trump rallies to "lock her up". Clinton says the FBI investigation into her misuse of email weeks out from the election cost her the top job. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in Bali after unprecedented seismic activity around Mount Agung, with hundreds of volcanic earthquakes recorded in a single day. Indonesia's volcanology centre has said Agung could erupt "in a matter of hours" if tremors continue. Data showed that Agung experienced 844 volcanic earthquakes on Monday, and 300 to 400 earthquakes by midday on Tuesday, with 75,000 people taking shelter in a safe zone five to seven miles away from the volcano. Agung last erupted in 1963, when more than 1,000 people were killed. That event was preceded by an increased frequency in earthquakes. Women in Saudi Arabia have been granted the right to drive, overturning a cornerstone of Saudi conservatism that had been a cause celebre for activists demanding reforms in the fundamentalist kingdom, reports Martin Chulov. King Salman ordered the change in a royal decree delivered on Tuesday night. The decision comes amid a broad reform program that last week led to women being allowed into a sports stadium for the first time. It is the most significant change yet to a rigidly conservative social order in Saudi Arabia that has strictly demarcated gender roles, and severely limits the role of women in public life. Saudi Arabia was the last country in the world in which women were banned from driving – a fact that was frequently used by critics as proof that female citizens of the kingdom were among the world's most repressed.
Sport The England allrounder Ben Stokes's Ashes participation and position as Test vice-captain has been thrown into jeopardy after he was arrested outside a nightclub in Bristol in the early hours of Monday morning. A 27-year-old man was taken to hospital. Stokes, spent the night in custody before being released under investigation without charge. England are due to announce their squad for the Ashes today. | 
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The Murray-Darling Basin Authority did not take any direct action on its findings. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters 
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