MEMBER for Murray Helen Dalton has told NSW Premier Chris Minns to “stop giving people rural people the shits”.
In a cheeky notice of motion on Thursday, the independent MP moved that NSW Parliament recognise “the devastating impact the government’s idiotic water policies are having on rural NSW”.
Mrs Dalton then called on Mr Minns to provide an “unlimited supply of Nurofen and Imodium … at his own personal expense” and “to stop giving the people … headaches and the shits”.
She later used her private members’ statement to claim the government had a water problem.
“The more this government gets that water problem wrong, the more families in rural New South Wales suffer,” she said.
“In question time yesterday, the Premier said that he does not support … buyback of 450 gigalitres of water for environmental reasons.
“It sounds comforting, but it is not.
“Not supporting something is not the same as stopping something. We have had enough of the weasel words.
“The Minister for Water, Rose Jackson, and the Premier are both using the same phrase from the same political cheat sheet.
“We do not care what they support or do not support; we need to know what they are going to stop.
“Right now, the Premier does not have a plan to stop the buybacks.”
The NSW Alternatives to Buybacks Plan, released last month, recommended a co-ordinated effort to deliver existing projects and proactively bring forward new ones that can contribute to basin plan targets, and in doing so, limit the volume of water buybacks from NSW communities.
The plan also called on the Federal Government to prioritise investment in recovering water through other mechanisms.
Ms Jackson said: “My message is clear: we will not take a backwards step in advocating for the interests of regional and rural NSW, and we will continue to explore and advocate for projects that deliver environmental benefits to the Basin while protecting our communities from large scale water buybacks.”
Mrs Dalton said an alternative plan was not the same as stopping the buybacks.
“If efficiencies can save water in parts of regional NSW, that water should stay in rural NSW. It should not be given to the Commonwealth,” Mrs Dalton said.
“The Premier knows that constraints along the river would prevent that amount of water from ever being delivered safely.”
Mrs Dalton called on the government to sell more than 1000GL of environmental water sitting in dams around the state.
