Dalton demands urgent action in basin

At the same time, Mrs Dalton is demanding the NSW Govenrment hold an “immediate” inquiry into the social and economic effects of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Other ways Mrs Dalton is pushing for change is through education, including through her 2024 documentary on learnings from her visit to South Australia and the Lower Lakes, and through a petition which aims to protect NSW landholders from Commonwealth water buybacks.

It calls on the NSW Government to ensure that no water transfers occur without a detailed and transparent report into the expected impact of any Commonwealth buybacks, including the potential economic, social, cultural, and environmental consequences of water resources being diverted away from local communities.

Mrs Dalton now plans to spend the next three months touring rural NSW explaining her seven point plan to highlight why water policies are so important to get right.

“I won’t rest until everyone understands my plan and is calling for it to be implemented immediately,” she said.

“For years, federal and state governments have failed the Murray-Darling Basin.

“They’ve had their chance and they’ve blown it.

“Now is the time for a new approach that will fix our river systems once and for all.

“My plan is simple, it’s clear and it’s long overdue.”

Ms Dalton’s seven point plan involves:

1. No water buybacks if they hurt communities.

2. Returning South Australia’s Lower Lakes to their natural state.

3. Increased desalination in order to provide water to South Australia.

4. Proper water metering throughout the basin system.

5. A renewed focus on water quality.

6. A ban on the government flooding of private wetlands.

7. An increase in downstream water storage.

“The Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the state and federal governments cannot be trusted to run our rivers,” Mrs Dalton said.

“My challenge to the major parties it to adopt this seven point plan without delay.

“Rural communities have had enough and are barely hanging on.

"But this plan can save communities, it can save livelihoods and given the distress people are under, it may also save lives.”

In addition to the seven point plan, Mrs Dalton has developed a documentary based on her tour of South Australia and the Lower Lakes for educational purposes.

She also has an active petition.

Mrs Dalton also regularly speaks in parliament on the threat of the basin plan and other water policies on rural communities.

“In rural New South Wales we will cop anything that Mother Nature throws at us. But what we can never accept or live with is the man‑made water crisis in the Murray-Darling Basin,” Mrs Dalton told parliament before the end of the 2024.

“Few ministries involve life-and-death choices. But the role of water minister is one of the few ministerial positions where, if we get it wrong, people's lives can be ruined - immediately and permanently.

“I have never experienced such high levels of fear and anger among my constituents as I am right now.

“Where I come from, too many people believe that this government has abandoned them when it comes to water. I, for one, am deeply worried about where it is all going to end.

“The goodwill towards the New South Wales Government began to evaporate when it refused to block the buyback of 450 gigalitres of Murray‑Darling Basin water by the Commonwealth Government.

“The New South Wales Government should have opposed the buybacks just like the Victorian Government did.”

Mrs Dalton said the second betrayal was the Landholder Negotiation Scheme released in November, which if passed will give the NSW Government the power to compulsorily acquire land and flood affected farms under the Reconnecting River Country Program (RRCP).

“Let me be clear: The people of rural New South Wales will not put up with another year of betrayal like the one they have just endured,” Mrs Dalton said.

“We need to listen to people in rural New South Wales.”