De Bortoli, Dalton urge Premier to visit South Australia lakes

The irrigation advocate visited South Australia's lower lakes recently along with Murray MP Helen Dalton.

Mrs Dalton is now calling on premier Chris Minns and several other ministers to see the issue first-hand to get a grasp on the situation.

Mr De Bortoli says he has long challenged the science of the Murray Darling Basin plan.

"Tanya (Plibersek) went ahead with the 450 gigalitre recovery; that's the straw that broke the camels back," Mr De Bortoli said.

"Most people can see the stupidity of the whole thing which is why it's really unbelievable labor went with a promise that was based on flawed science and history.

"What's happening is driven by politics in an incompetent way and it's becoming a war of attrition.

"The focus should be on water quality, not water buy-ins." he said.

Mr De Bortoli says he has been studying the functions of the South Australian lower lakes for years.

In 2012 he criticised The Wilderness Society's accusation of Murray-Darling Basin irrigators using South Australia as a 'salt dump'.

"Ninety-four per cent of south-east South Australia's wetlands have been decimated by 1500 kilometres of drains, flushing the wetlands straight to the sea which is killing their sea grasses," he said at the time.

He asserted that in addition to flows from the Murray-Darling Basin, water had previously flowed into the southern lagoon of the Coorong, as well as pushing through the Murray mouth.

Mrs Dalton says South Australia's lower lakes are being artificially kept full of river water using water taken from the Murray Darling Basin, and that sea water is being kept out of the lakes by seven huge barrages erected in the 1930s and 1940s.

"The magnitude of the destruction is without comparison," Mr De Bortoli said.

"Simply, you can see the sites were 'stuffed up'."

Mrs Dalton is calling for the premier to intervene.

"I'm happy to show Chris what I have seen and introduce him to the people I have spoken to," Mrs Dalton said.

"He should also bring with him Water Minister Rose Jackson, Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty, and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe. They all need to see this.

"Enough is enough; the NSW Government must act immediately," she said.