Helen Dalton MP INDEPENDENT MEMBER FOR MURRAY PAR MEN NSW For more than a decade, Australians have been told the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is working. We have been asked to accept the cost, trust the modelling, and believe that the damage being done to regional communities is necessary for environmental outcomes. The reality tells a very different story. Since 2013, the Basin Plan has cost billions of dollars to administer, while Basin communities have lost billions more in economic activity. Productive water has been stripped from farms, towns built around irrigation have been hollowed out, and trust in the system has collapsed. Yet after all this time and money, parts of the Murray are still labelled critically endangered. That alone should raise serious questions. What makes this worse is the plan's failure to address the real environmental pressures in the system. Invasive carp dominate our rivers, destroy riverbanks, degrade water quality and crowd out native fish. Instead of tackling these problems, policy has focused on buying back productive water and sending it downstream, regardless of the social, economic and food security consequences. When water is removed from farms, food production falls. When production falls, prices rise. Australians feel that every week at the checkout. This is not just a regional issue. It is a national cost-of-living and food security issue. Parliament has now supported a Public Interest Debate calling for a Federal Royal Commission into water management. That matters. It is Parliament acknowledging the system has failed and that independent scrutiny is overdue. A Federal Royal Commission is about transparency and accountability. It is about putting all the evidence on the table and telling the truth about what has gone wrong. If we want this to happen, people and organisations must act now. Individuals can sign the petition, and organisations can add their support to the push for a Federal Royal Commission. Visit helendalton.com.au to take part. Helen Dalton MP for Murray Authorised by Helen Dalton MP, Funded using Parliamentary Entitlements. Griffith 02 6962 6644 Deniliquin 03 5881 7034 Buronga 0475 683 288 murray@parliament.nsw.gov.au Helen Dalton MP INDEPENDENT MEMBER FOR MURRAY PAR MEN NSW For more than a decade , Australians have been told the Murray - Darling Basin Plan is working . We have been asked to accept the cost , trust the modelling , and believe that the damage being done to regional communities is necessary for environmental outcomes . The reality tells a very different story . Since 2013 , the Basin Plan has cost billions of dollars to administer , while Basin communities have lost billions more in economic activity . Productive water has been stripped from farms , towns built around irrigation have been hollowed out , and trust in the system has collapsed . Yet after all this time and money , parts of the Murray are still labelled critically endangered . That alone should raise serious questions . What makes this worse is the plan's failure to address the real environmental pressures in the system . Invasive carp dominate our rivers , destroy riverbanks , degrade water quality and crowd out native fish . Instead of tackling these problems , policy has focused on buying back productive water and sending it downstream , regardless of the social , economic and food security consequences . When water is removed from farms , food production falls . When production falls , prices rise . Australians feel that every week at the checkout . This is not just a regional issue . It is a national cost - of - living and food security issue . Parliament has now supported a Public Interest Debate calling for a Federal Royal Commission into water management . That matters . It is Parliament acknowledging the system has failed and that independent scrutiny is overdue . A Federal Royal Commission is about transparency and accountability . It is about putting all the evidence on the table and telling the truth about what has gone wrong . If we want this to happen , people and organisations must act now . Individuals can sign the petition , and organisations can add their support to the push for a Federal Royal Commission . Visit helendalton.com.au to take part . Helen Dalton MP for Murray Authorised by Helen Dalton MP , Funded using Parliamentary Entitlements . Griffith 02 6962 6644 Deniliquin 03 5881 7034 Buronga 0475 683 288 murray@parliament.nsw.gov.au