The Albanese Labor Government’s revised Murray Darling Basin Plan has pulled the plug on years of bipartisanship and will leave basin communities in ruin, Member for Mallee Anne Webster says.Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s amendments to the plan will extend the deadline for its delivery until December 2027 and reintroduce dreaded water buybacks.“River communities knew this was coming, but the Minister has confirmed Labor are happy to see abandoned farms and patchwork quilts of irrigated and non-irrigated land just to meet numerical targets on a page,” Dr Webster said.“By creating a new classification of water recovery under the 450GL against which the socioeconomic test will now not apply. The Minister is effectively admitting that buybacks hurt communities and she doesn’t care.“Bipartisanship has been a hallmark of the Basin Plan reforms since its inception in 2007. Minister Plibersek from her Sydney electorate has ensured that is no longer the case with this disastrous new plan that hurts regional communities that rely on the river.”Due to the disgraceful lack of consultation with affected communities, the Coalition will be pushing for a Senate Inquiry to directly engage with and hear the concerns of these communities first hand.The Greens have also signalled they will refer the legislation to an Inquiry.“There is a lot to work through with these amendments, and the Liberals and Nationals have always been focussed on maximising the environmental outcomes with minimal social and economic upheaval,” Dr Webster said.“In a cost-of-living crisis, Minister Plibersek is choosing to take water out of agricultural production which will only further increase the grocery bill of Australian families.“The flow on impacts of water leaving irrigation districts goes well beyond the farm gate, which is why the previous government focussed their efforts on off-farm or in-river water savings – not devastating buybacks that simply carve water out of our communities.”