Water Minister Ian Hunter refuses to play ball with Canberra on Murray Darling Basin Plan

WATER Minister Ian Hunter has removed South Australian approval for any changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan after a Ministerial Council was cancelled.

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THE State Government has refused to come to the table on changes to the $10 billion Murray Darling Basin Plan until its integrity has been assured.

Water Minister Ian Hunter

Water Minister Ian Hunter withdrew support for changes to the scheme, saying South Australia had lost confidence and patience in the Federal Government’s handling of the project.

A planned Ministerial Council to address concerns of basin state water ministers’ was cancelled earlier this week prompting Mr Hunter’s anger.

“South Australia calls on all Federal Members of Parliament to stand up for the River Murray and vote in support of a disallowance motion to block moves by the Commonwealth Government to make any amendments to the Basin Plan,” Mr Hunter said on Tuesday.

“South Australians have been standing up for the River Murray for decades and expect the Commonwealth Government and the eastern states to deliver on their commitments under the Basin Plan.”

Mr Hunter took aim at the dual citizenship saga which has embroiled the Federal Government, saying he didn’t want the “chaos and crisis” to over shadow the plan.

The State Government has refused to come to the table on changes to the $10 billion Murray Darling Basin Plan until its integrity has been assured.

But his announcement drew criticism from the Federal Assistant Water and Agriculture Minister Anne Ruston, who said that until now Mr Hunter had been in deep discussions with her on reforms.

She claimed she had been warned “so many times that the South Australian Labor Party will blow up this plan for its own political self-interest.”