Upper House member Helen Dalton resigns from Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Party

Upper House member Helen Dalton has resigned from the Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Party to become an independent in what comes as a shock for the seat of Murray.

Helen Dalton has caused a major shock in the upper house of NSW by leaving the Shooters and Fishers party to sit as an independent.

Ms Dalton is a leading upper house member in water legislation and uncovering the Murray Darling water scandal.

The now independent put out a statement highlighting her disappointment of her party not supporting legislation of the flood plain harvesting.

In her statement, Ms Dalton said: “They refused to vote down dodgy National Party law changes that allowed for excessive water take in the northern basin.”

Ms Dalton believes this will disadvantage the Lower Darling Farmers and the Riverina and labelled the action “gutless”.

She said the legislation was key in helping farmers have better water management and less of an issue from upstream.

Ms Dalton did say she was getting reassurance that her former party colleague Robert Borsak was going to disallow the motion with her but abstained from the motion which saw as a betrayal to her and believes the party has sided with the Nationals.

Helen Dalton at the Tocumwal Rally in 2019. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

“It was the real catalyst in me leaving the party and wanting to put my seat first before the party”, she said.

Ms Dalton also said her voice was not getting through to the Shooters and Fishers in party meetings and she believes she will probably be the only woman that will represent the party.

“I was shut down in meetings, it seems they were ignoring what I was bringing to the table”, said Ms Dalton.

The Fishers and Shooters responded in a statement, saying: “Her position was no longer tenable within the SFF party given the inconsistencies with her own farming and water trading activities”.

The party alleges that MS dalton made hidden deals with the greens party over water management to see environmental water to flow further south into South Australia.

However Ms Dalton denied the claims that were made by the party.

Ms Dalton said nothing will change and still supports the people of Murray for advocating for water inquiries, bringing more funding for health services and advocating the prevention of mental health in rural communities.

“I have received support from all the parties and messages of support by the public with text messages saying ‘you go girl’ which I am happy about”, said Ms Dalton.

Helen Dalton speaks to the media alongside party members during a press conference at the NSW Parliament House in 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Peter Rae

Ms Dalton remained upbeat on Friday, saying she believes she can now make real change for the seat of Murray and thinks it has opened the doors for her.

“I will be contacting Mr Perrottet to propose better health services to my seat and pushing for these issues that impact my community”, said the member for Murray.

It will now be a wait and see how the member of Murray will go as a independent in the upper house as the Fisher Shooter’s Party have lost a key asset.