GRIFFITH has delivered a damning appraisal of the federal government’s voracious grab for water in a show of strength sure to reverberate all the way to Canberra.More than 1000 people packed the Yoogali Club yesterday to support a host of expert speakers in universally denouncing the guide to the Murray-Darling Basin plan.The Standing Committee on Regional Australia was bombarded for more than seven hours with testimony that the plan – in its current guise – will obliterate the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.The NSW Irrigators Council hammered home that point in the starkest possible terms when it revealed that even at the lower end of the proposed water cuts – 32 per cent locally – the result would be devastating.“Based on the cutbacks the MDBA (Murray-Darling Basin Authority) is proposing, 14,500 jobs would be the direct impact (across the state),” the council’s policy analyst Mark Moore said.“You’re looking at (a cost to the economy of) almost $4 billion in value and a flow-on effect of almost 27,000 jobs.”Griffith Business Chamber chairman Pat Pittavino said just the presence of a document advocating stripping the region of nearly half its water was already doing irreparable damage.He said this was exacerbated by the government’s refusal to halt its controversial $3.1 billion water buyback scheme until the plan process had concluded.“The sheer talk that’s been started by the Murray-Darling Basin plan is killing this city by stealth,” Mr Pittavino said.“Please remember that any buyback is income lost from the region – (and) if that’s going to happen, then we certainly need something to replace that if you want to see this as a viable and sustainable community.” Mr Windsor told the meeting during a brief opening address that the committee was determined to provide a fairer outcome for the community.“It’s not about us, it’s about you,” he said. “We are very serious about trying to do something in relation to this issue.“We are trying to get a snapshot across the basin of the various issues that are within the basin.“Today isn’t about bashing the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. I think we all realise the way in which the message was delivered wasn’t in the most appropriate fashion and I don’t think we need to reiterate that.“The emphasis is on what we do from here on, rather than what’s happened in the past.”