Alan Jones is a master of the rhetorical flourish, a radio demagogue peerless when it comes to peddling influence.

As Australia’s most vociferous broadcaster, he has premiers and prime ministers bowing before him, and he can shape public policy with one withering editorial.

And regardless of how you view his political agenda, he’s a handy bloke to have on your side.

Speaking to the DA in the lead-up to his appearance in Wagga last night at a gala rugby dinner, Jones excoriated the federal government over its handling of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

The plan, he said, was fatally flawed, giving primacy to the environment over people and costing the Riverina an opportunity to become the food bowl of Asia.

Through his daily menu of news, interviews and editorials, Jones has long had his crosshairs aimed at the plan, even broadcasting a show from Griffith in 2007.

It is one of his pet topics, and he makes a compelling case.

With the mining boom fast transferring to a dining boom, there’s no doubt the Riverina is in pole position to help feed a fast-growing Asian middle class.

Over four billion people live in Asia. By 2050, 60 per cent of the world’s demand for agrifood will come from there. The Asians have an insatiable appetite for our food, and for good reason.

We have innovative farmers, world’s best practice biosecurity and ample land and sunshine. The missing resource could be water.

The plan has already stripped 2000 billion litres of productive water from the basin’s farmers, with another 750 billion still to be reclaimed.

Much of the damage has already been done.

Irrigation-reliant economies like Griffith have been lacerated by the plan, sparking a freefall in real estate prices and a crisis of business confidence.

For the sake of the region’s future, we must stem the blood flow. We must demand the federal government pause the plan.

And we couldn’t hope for a more powerful ally than Alan Jones.