The controversial Murray-Darling Basin plan does not appear to have seriously figured in talks between Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter and the major parties.

The bargaining power of independents was on display last week when Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie secured a guaranteed $100 million to upgrade a Hobart hospital.

But with only Mr Windsor's electorate of New England in the basin, the potentially catastrophic cuts to water allocations under the plan have not been a priority.

Willbriggie rice farmer Glen Andreazza said he was disappointed the three independents had not addressed what he considered the biggest issue facing regional Australia.

"There hasn't been much mentioned about the basin plan, or water in general, which is disappointing," Mr Andreazza said.

"If we'd had someone on our side I think numerous things could have happened, such as we could have got the Water Act revisited.

"They possibly will look after regional Australia to a certain extent, but certainly not on water issues by the looks of it."

National Irrigators Council CEO Danny O'Brien said he had written to each of the three MPs expressing concerns about the plan, but had been unable to speak to them in person.

"We've certainly been trying, but from what we're seeing publicly it doesn't appear that there's any focus on the plan as a key issue in the negotiations," Mr O'Brien said.

"I guess the problem is that only one of them - that being Tony Windsor - has an electorate in the basin.

"We'd like to think that this is an opportunity to get some commonsense back into the debate but unfortunately - at least publicly - it does not appear to be a high-level issue for them."

With the independents widely tipped to make their decisions this week, the chairman of the Murrumbidgee Private Irrigators Inc, Murray Shaw, said he believed the basin plan process could yet be re-examined if the Coalition formed a minority government.

"Tony Windsor was the only person in parliament to vote against the Water Act, so he obviously knew what that was going to do to us," Mr Shaw said.

"There are plenty of people around who know that the basin plan can only lead to one thing - the depopulation of the regions.

"These independents' electorates are wildly conservative and (Opposition leader) Tony Abbott's right, he's got six members of his front bench from the regions and we've had three years of Labor and none of them have even been near the regions."