KEVIN Mack was "honoured" he was mentioned by Barnaby Joyce in an explosive radio interview on Monday night when he was labelled a "liar".
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The independent candidate for Farrer, who called the interview a "train wreck", said he was the voice of farmers who "without question, smell a king-sized rat".
"This is the tip of the iceberg as far as I'm concerned, so let's see it all play out," he said.
"I think the whole nation feels Mr Joyce has questions to answer, yet he did nothing but evade the questions, shout over the top of the interviewer and berate me for raising earlier questions on behalf of devastated farmers in Farrer."
In the national radio interview covering the "watergate" buyback deal Mr Joyce, the former agriculture minister, singled out Mr Mack.
And less than 24 hours later Agriculture Minister David Littleproud asked the auditor-general to review all taxpayer-funded water buybacks going back more than a decade but said there was no need for a Royal Commission.
"I'll be asking the auditor-general to look at all purchases of all political persuasions over the last period since 2008 to make sure that we can give confidence to the community," Mr Littleproud said.
During an interview on ABC's Radio National on Monday night Mr Joyce vehemently denied any wrongdoing over the $80 million buyback, deflecting any question put to him by the ABC's Patricia Karvelas blaming "Labor Labor Labor".
Both Mr Mack and Labor candidate Kieran Drabsch have come out swinging calling the interview a "train wreck" and "a sign of the chaos and scandal".
"Sussan Ley rode on Barnaby's coat tails last week, accusing me of being the 'water candidate'," Mr Mack said.
"It's a badge I will wear with honour as I push the cause of seriously impacted farmers across the electorate."
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Mr Drabsch told The Area News the interview was "a fire engulfing the government" and member for Farrer Sussan Ley has "a lot of questions to answer".
"Mr Joyce changed the rules to benefit his mates," he said. "This government has wasted over a billion dollars on chaos and scandal and Sussan Ley has been a part of that."
Mr Drabsch said as more information came to light, the more reason there was for a Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
"As more information comes out I think the only way forward is with a Royal Commission into the plan but Tony Burke needs to make that decision," he said.
"This is a government that has been governing for six years and they are still blaming Labor.
Mr Drabsch said Farrer wasn't "a two-candidate race".
After multiple questions were put to Ms Ley by The Area News, she stated "buying water for the environment is not new".
"With the Commonwealth and state governments making strategic purchases for the environment since 2007. This particular purchase was undertaken by the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture and Water Resources under Government Procurement Guidelines, at arms-length from the minister and the government," she said.
Vandals targeted Ms Ley on Tuesday when a campaign poster on Bungowannah Road was spray-painted with a swastika symbol.
Ms Ley said it is disappointing, but did not believe the act was representative of the wider community.
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