How will SA be treated?

IF THE three regional  independents are finding it so difficult to decide between Liberal and Labor, may I suggest that the Murray Darling Basin Plan - so obviously held over until after the election – could hold the answer to just how little regard Labor has for regional Australia.

No doubt Labor and the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) will claim a great scientific outcome (and not all scientist agree on climate change), but we all accept that the basin has been over allocated.
The fix I suspect will not be welcome news for food growers and in particular for South Australia, which stopped issuing high security irrigation licences in 1971.
The eastern states promised South Australia they would guarantee South Australia water entitlement of 1850 GL if South Australia signed off on allowing the eastern states to continue allocating licences.
This guarantee has not been honoured even though South Australian water is high security water for permanent planting, as opposed to general security water, valued at approximately one-third the value of high security water.
General security water is usually used for cash crops like pasture (the biggest user of basin water) wheat cereals, rice and cotton.
It will be interesting to see if the basin plan understand the difference between the value of the two types of water (high security and low or general security) and the constant water needs of permanent plantings.
It will also be interesting to see how South Australia is treated, having not issued any water licences for almost 40 years, having all water diversions metered, all piped water, no open channels and the best irrigation infrastructure of any state.
And all paid for, no government grants needed.
RICHARD SMART
Renmark