Rally organiser and Barooga,NSW irrigator Chris Brooks channelled the anger of many when he said the mostly"conservative"members in the crowd viewed the basin plan as the"most despicable act by any government against Australians".
"This rally will be known as the line in the sand. No more! We are here to take those rights back,"he said.
The $13 billion basin plan was enacted with support of state and federal governments in 2013 to recover over-allocated irrigation entitlements for the environment. A portion of irrigators'water rights was bought back from voluntary sellers with Commonwealth funding that was to be used for efficiency measures on farms.
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But since then,many irrigators have been pushed to the wall by drought,with two years of zero allocation to general security irrigation licences in NSW,years of very low allocation in Victoria,and sky-high water prices.
Deniliquin,NSW irrigator Jon Gatacre took time out from his busy grain harvest to attend the rally.
Like many farmers,he believes the Murray Darling Basin Authority has mismanaged its water entitlements,releasing too much from upstream dams for South Australia's Lower Lakes and to flush out the Murray Mouth.