Liberal stands alongside water buyback supporters despite party opposition

A group of SA federal MPs and senators have gathered in Canberra to call for the federal government to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full. The politicians appeared alongside the Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance, which suggested water purchasing was the way forward. What's next? The federal government will decide how it will make up the shortfall under the plan. A group of South Australian politicians say they have had enough of other states not pulling their weight under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and it is affecting their communities. Keen fisher Neil Burton said the River Murray was the lifeblood of South Australia's Riverland. "Without the Murray, we're all buggered," he said. Its future and ability to provide water to 2.4 million people across four states, including more than 1 million people in Adelaide, is under scrutiny. The projects were introduced to avoid further buybacks. With federal water and agriculture minister Murray Watt considering how to address the 265GL shortfall, MPs and senators from South Australia came together in Canberra to put their state first. Labor, Liberal, the Greens and an independent joined together at a press conference to demand the plan be delivered in full, including meeting its water recovery targets. Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan said South Australia had already done its fair share of the work and other states needed to step up. "It has suffered from the incompetence and greed of New South Wales and Victoria," he said. "We need that water otherwise our society, our communities will die." The conference was also attended by the Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance, which said water purchasing would be the most cost-effective and efficient way to claw back the shortfall. It was in conflict with the Coalition's policy demanding an end to water buybacks. Labor MP Louise Miller-Frost was expected to attend, but at the last minute did not show to speak to the media. Communities relying on the Murray Mr Burton has lived along the River Murray for decades, growing up in the Riverland and returning for his retirement. He is shocked other states have not met their targets more than a decade after the plan was introduced. "I can't believe that after all these years of having a Murray Basin Plan they can't rectify it and get water down the river when it's needed," he said. "In the 70s we did a lot of rehabilitation around here with all the channels going and put into pipelines. A lot of the growers paid for that. "Surely if one state can do it, the rest can do it." He said it might be time for states outside of the basin to mediate the delivery of water to combat parochialism. But as for the system's survival, he said it was up to everyone. "The whole nation needs to get behind it," he said. "They need it to grow food, to cook, to wash. Everyone needs it." A review of the Basin Plan is due to be completed later this year.