Rallies, meetings, and protests - Griffith, the MIA and the wider Riverina have seen it all - and the movement is getting louder to "Pause the Plan".
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And yet despite the numerous calls increasing to halt the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, some are remaining separate from the pack, looking beyond the "political catch-cry" and at "what comes after."
Saying it's time to put "food before frogs", Griffith irrigator John Bonetti said he would be inclined to support pausing the plan if there was a guarantee irrigators would get a better deal.
He said supporting the pause was just "hiding from reality."
"I am against the plan, but what good is pausing it if I don't know what was going to replace it? The odds are we would end up in a worse position than we already are," Mr Bonetti said.
Coleambally's Trent Gardiner said if the plan was abolished, he would "guarantee the popular vote would win with a plan that would cripple us all."
Working with, around and among the plan for over 30 years, the 'a-political' irrigator is "fed up" with the plan "blame-game".
"The fact of the matter is is that it hasn't rained in the catchments," Mr Gardiner said.
"I am upset at how people have been using (the MDBA) as an excuse for what has been happening naturally. I am not siding with anyone except practicality."
He said the other alternative was to get rid of the plan altogether, which he is "dead against".
"The public perception of irrigation is not all that good - so the chance of us to get something better than what we have is basically zero. We would end up far worse."
Incumbent Farrer member Sussan Ley has said she has spoken to a number of groups, including "Griffith Local Government Area", who do not support pausing the plan.
However when approached, mayor John Dal Broi said that while council have discussed the critical issue, no official stance had been reached.
"At this stage we don't have a stance on pausing the plan," Cr Dal Broi confirmed.
The Rice Growers Association, while not supporting a pause, are adamant drastic changes are required, following the review of the Basin Plan by the Productivity Commission.
"A best worst plan is completely unacceptable," their statement read.
As an old scandal comes to light just before the federal election, many like Farrer's independent candidate Kevin Mack are using it as further evidence of the government's 'failure'.
The government's $80 million water buyback will "heighten the angst" of struggling farmers in the Farrer electorate, according Mr Mack.
"The plan has to be paused and reviewed - this will just add to the frustration felt by the people of Farrer about the governance of the plan," Mr Mack said.
Supplementary reporting by The Border Mail
Yet Ms Ley has hit back at the barb, saying irrigators would see the buyback dubbed 'watergate' as beneficial.
"Far from making things worse in Farrer, many irrigators will actually tell you this particular water recovery purchase reduced the volume that would have otherwise been bought back from communities in my electorate," Ms Ley said.
The deal has resurfaced this week with suggestions of wrongdoing after the purchase came under scrutiny once again for its record dollar value and a past relationship between the Energy Minister Angus Taylor and the seller.
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The government paid the record amount for water entitlements in south-east Queensland from a company called Eastern Australia Agriculture to form part of environmental flows in the Murray Darling Basin.
But it is the company's parent company, Eastern Australia Irrigation, based in the Cayman Islands tax haven, which has reignited the transaction during the federal election campaign.
Mr Mack said the calls for a Royal Commission were getting louder.
"We have been calling for a Royal Commission for more than six weeks now, and now the Greens are calling for one as well, this just shows our claim for the Royal Commission is valid," Mr Mack
While Mr Bonetti remained unconvinced, Mr Gardiner said he "didn't have a problem with the royal commission."
"If it can tweak the plan, and if there's anything that has genuinely been done wrong, I don't have a problem," Mr Gardiner said.
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