SA Government must stand up for the bottom end of the river

The Australian Greens are urging the SA Government to stand up for the Murray and challenge New South Wales’ latest water grab on behalf of big cotton.   “The New South Wales Liberal National Government continues to sit on its hands while cashed up irrigators disregard and undermine the Murray Darling Basin Plan. If any other state behaved in this way, New South Wales would be hitting the nuclear button on the Plan entirely,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.    “The South Australian Liberal Government must not let New South Wales continue to risk the full implementation of the Plan. We are the state with the most to lose. Our Coorong and Lower Lakes are dying, the Murray Mouth has been continuously dredged for six years because not enough water is coming down the river, and now, New South Wales wants to take even more.    “In making sure they have more than enough water to grow cotton, big corporate irrigators are cementing water inequality for the communities in the Basin. Big corporate irrigators, thanks to their compliant mates in the NSW National Party, now expect they'll get whatever they ask for, while the rest of us fight for scraps.
  “With the Mayo By-Election now on, there is an opportunity for South Australians to send a strong message to the Liberal Party in Canberra. No longer are communities at the end of the River going to sit by while corporate greed kills our environment and drains our water supply.    “Voters in Mayo know Liberal candidate Georgina Downer will not stand up to the upstream states and will do nothing to save River Murray, Lower Lakes And Coorong.   “Greens candidate Moogy Sumner is the strongest voice to protect the Murray. A vote for Moogy is a vote for the River."