The ABC’s Four Corners program recently reported that billions of litres of water paid for by taxpayers and meant to be returned to the environment under the Murray-Darling basin plan were allegedly being pumped out by some irrigators in the Barwon-Darling region of the Murray-Darling for cotton growing, to the detriment of downstream communities and the environment.

This has led the South Australian government, key senators, Indigenous and environmental groups to call for urgent investigations in to the allegations. The SA water minister, Ian Hunter, has called for a judicial inquiry; Senate crossbencher Nick Xenophon wants the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption to investigate “stolen” water and South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called for a Senate inquiry with full parliamentary privilege to protect witnesses.

The Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN) called for an Icac investigation, an overhaul of water planning and the removal of the water ministry from the NSW National party.

The SA water minister said the NSW government must answer the allegations.

“If the allegations are correct, that at a very senior level in the public service in New South Wales that people have turned a blind eye to this, then that is very concerning,” Hunter said.

“There needs to be an independent judicial review – independent of government [and] independent of politics – [with] a senior judicial figure, because this strikes at the very heart of the public service in New South Wales, if the allegations are correct.”

Niall Blair, the NSW water minister, has denied that his government was abandoning its commitment to the Murray-Darling basin plan.

“The NSW government remains committed to the Murray-Darling basin plan, while seeking the best deal for NSW communities within that framework,” he said in a statement. “It’s wrong to suggest that a change to the water rules in NSW in 2012 somehow undermines our determination to see the plan through.

“I have directed the secretary of the NSW Department of Industry to provide an urgent overview of all the compliance matters raised in the program.”

The director of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Paul Sinclair, also called for Icac to investigate allegations which could amount to one of the largest known cases of alleged water theft in Australia’s history, as well as evidence that the NSW government did nothing to stop it.

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