The Murray Darling Basin Plan is a deliberate ploy by the government to impoverish farmers and drive them off their land so that it can be sold off to multinational corporations - so says Wade Northausen.
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He's the president of the grassroots group Southern Basin Communities, which came to Griffith on Wednesday to declare "war" on the "dishonest traitorous leeches" in government.
"The pages of history will record their despicable acts of treachery against the Australian people," Mr Northausen told the angry crowd.
"We are seeing this entire region being wiped off the face of the earth as a result of the policy direction they have taken."
He came with three demands: an end to the 2007 Water Act, a radical shakeup of water trading regulations, and a royal commission into the "real intentions" of the people behind the MDBP.
The plan's stated intentions - economic, social, and environmental improvement - had all failed miserably according to Southern Basin Communities vice president Ken Pattison.
"If the environment was being improved it possibly wouldn't be so bad, but as we know from our various communities they're mucking that up too," Mr Pattison said.
"They've taken just about everything from us."
Neil Eagle AO claimed the MDBP was just the most recent catastrophe in a string of bad policy changes he'd seen over his 74-year lifetime.
Some of the policies changes he said he'd like to see include a reversal of the separation of land and water assets, keeping water trading within regions, and reclassifying water transmission losses as environmental flows.
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The meeting was part of a whirlwind tour of the region, and Southern Basin Communities member Ken Trewyn said things were looking bleak throughout the area.
"What I see is decimation, heartache, broken people, and sadly I see poverty," Mr Trewyn said.
He said there was growing anger against the major parties, all of which support a MDBP in some form or another.
"You did it for Helen Dalton, now do it for the independents," he told the crowd in the leadup to the federal election on May 18.
Among the crowd was Federal independent candidate Kevin Mack, United Australia candidate Mike Rose and independent candidate Brian Mills.
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