Media reports are slamming authorities behind Victoria’s Wonthaggi desalination plant, accusing them of waste, leaks and criminal links.

News Corp media outlet the Herald Sun says that despite costing Melbourne water users about $22.5 billion over the life of its contract, the troubled Wonthaggi plant has not produced a drop.

The paper says the desalination plant is still employing a team of 52 maintenance workers and engineers, who monitor the lack of activity 24 hours a day and fix the water plant’s leaks, among other duties.

But, it is one of the newspapers many consider to be aligned with the conservative side of politics, and some commentators say the Herald Sun may only be trying to damage the reputation of the Labor party, just a few weeks away from an election.

Fair Work Building and Construction director Nigel Hadgkiss is expected to hand his report on investigations into the plant to a Senate committee this week, which may lend some validity to claims made in the newspaper this week.

The newspaper is running salacious claims it says could “­become an election issue for state Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews”, including reporting that one CFMEU shop steward at the plant has been sentenced to over 5 years’ jail for importing three tonnes of cannabis resin.

There is also word that the royal commission into trade unions was asked to investigate a crane supervisor from the desal project with links to known ex-criminal Mick Gatto.

News Corp is reporting that three times the ­number of cranes planned for the plant’s construction were present on the site, and a number “appeared inactive”.

The Wonthaggi project has been plagued with problems since it was hurriedly put together under Victoria’s previous Labor leaders.

Reports say the expensive effort cost the companies building it almost $1 billion in losses.

The following infographic is made in an attempt to display the costs of the plant, featuring a range of factual, speculative, and irrelevent information: