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 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 the MIA last week 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 said.
"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.
Southern Basin Communities vice president Ken Pattison said the plan's three stated aims - economic, social, and environmental improvement - had failed miserably.
"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 long lifetime.
Some of the policies changes 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.
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 anti-government fervor was sweeping across the southern basin, something he was keen to stoke.
He described the recent swing towards minor parties at the state level as a revolt 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.
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