MEMBER for Murray Helen Dalton says the Shooters Fishers and Farmers (SFF) party’s failure to support her stance on water management was the “last straw”, which pushed her to leave the party and sit as an independent.
Mrs Dalton, who broke a 35-year hold The Nationals had on the seat of Murray when she was elected in 2019, resigned from SFF on Thursday.
She said she chose to leave the party because SFF had failed to support her and the concerns of lower Darling and Murray River communities when it abstained from voting to block the issuing of floodplain harvesting licences.
Independent MP Justin Field raised the motion, supported by the Greens, Labor and the Animal Justice Party, after citing concerns the licences would result in billions of dollars of water entitlements being gifted to corporate irrigators in the northern Murray-Darling Basin.
The motion also pointed to issues of inadequate water metering and urged the NSW Government to respond to recommendations released in a report on floodplain harvesting last December.
“These law changes really disadvantaged lower Darling communities and Murray River irrigators,” Mrs Dalton said.
“It allowed for more licences to be handed out … without the necessary metering.
“We want the rivers to flow, we want take to be sustainable and within the limits of extraction.”
Mrs Dalton said water management was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and said she could no longer continue with party leaders who were “changing their mind continuously about what they should be doing”.
Mrs Dalton said she did not look kindly on the SFF decision to delete her Facebook page, which had 27,000 followers, adding she hoped the party would reinstate it.
“It was a means of communication, particularly in areas where there was no paper. And we gave out a lot of information about foreclosures, all those things that impact on the community.
SFF party leader Robert Borsak said in a statement to ABC Riverina the party could not support Mrs Dalton making “hidden deals” with the “extreme Left” to send environmental water to South Australia.
He said the party would contest Murray at the next election.
Mrs Dalton said Mr Borsak’s recent comments had been a piece of “creative writing”, adding it had difficult being heard as a woman in a male-dominated party.
“It’s very difficult being a woman in a party full of men.
“I didn’t feel that my comments or my beliefs were taken seriously at all.”
However, Mrs Dalton said she felt confident “a lot of doors” would open now she had left the party and said upcoming NSW by-election results could leave her with a crucial vote as an independent.
“The Coalition are going to be looking for friends and I certainly want to be in the tent when it comes to trying to get the best deal for the seat of Murray.”
