POLITICAL pressure could lead to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan being scrapped or at least paused.
Seven of eight senate crossbenchers say the plan must be halted due to water prices spiraling out of control to a high of $300 a megalitre in Victoria.
The senators have also called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to give Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce full responsibility for the water portfolio. Senator Bill Heffernan, a Junee farmer, has hit back saying the crossbenchers are playing with people’s livelihoods. "It's easy to go out ... to the southern NSW irrigation community of Griffith and say we're going to give you more water, or to go down the street and say we'll provide free beer, and you'll be popular. But you've got to apply some science to it,” he said. A senate select committee will meet in Griffith on October 27.
