EXCLUSIVE: ACTING Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and a table of ministers have been told to “f**k off” and a female minister has been called a “c**t” by South Australia’s Water Minister Ian Hunter, during a meltdown that ended with the veteran MP storming out.

The extraordinary tirade directed towards Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville and Mr Joyce occurred during a dinner meeting in Adelaide of the Murray Darling Basin ministerial council.

The minister’s angry tirade then continued outside, with Mr Hunter telling department staff to also “f**k off” before demanding his staff also leave the meeting.

Mr Hunter and his team were later spotted outside eating ice-creams.

UPDATE: IAN HUNTER APOLOGISES FOR FOUL TIRADE

Multiple sources told The Weekly Times that Mr Hunter, Mr Joyce, Assistant Water Minister Anne Ruston, Ms Neville, and the ACT’s representative were meeting over dinner to discuss the basin plan when Mr Hunter unleashed the tirade.

He called Ms Neville — a fellow Labor minister he today accused of not supporting SA on the plan — a “c**t” before telling all ministers present to “f**k off”.

Contacted by The Weekly Times this morning about his outburst, Mr Hunter directed all calls to his office before hanging up.

Asked if Mr Hunter had unleashed a string of expletives including towards Ms Neville, his office did not deny it had occurred but described the exchange as “private”.

Asked again if he had called Ms Neville a “c**t” his office said he had no further comment on the incident.

“Private discussions between basin ministers will remain so, and his focus is on ensuring the Federal Government keep their promise on the basin plan,” a spokesman said.

Mr Hunter himself did not deny using foul language when asked during a press conference today, saying: “I am not going to talk about what I might have said to people in a private meeting”.

MURRAY DARLING BASIN PLAN: SA AT ODDS WITH BARNABY JOYCE, VICTORIA AND NSW

Mr Hunter’s spokesman has now issued a new statement denying the minister used the word “c**t” — more than five hours after first being asked — and said the reports were a “diversionary tactic from the main, critical issue”.

His office did not dispute any other aspects of the exchange.

Attendees at today’s meeting claim that Ms Neville alluded to the ugly incident in the meeting when she said that abusing each other was not a productive way forward.

Asked about the outburst, Ms Neville said there was a “robust discussion” ahead of today’s meeting, but that it was a private meeting.

“I don’t shy away from standing up for Victorians and what’s best for our state,” she said.

“My South Australian counterpart and I share different views.”

This morning, Mr Hunter called for Mr Joyce to be sacked from the water portfolio, accusing him of “tearing up” the basin plan and rounded on Ms Neville claiming he got a better deal when the Liberals were in power.

“Malcolm Turnbull either has to pull him into line or sack him and hand over the ministry for water to somebody like Senator Ruston,’’ he said.

Victoria and NSW have each stated in recent months that they do not want to see any further water buybacks under the plan, and want to focus on measures to get similar environmental gains without taking more water from the system.

“Quite frankly I got more support when the Victorian Government was run by the Liberals and we had a National party minister who was also committed to delivering the plan,” Mr Hunter said.

“I’m outraged that NSW and Victoria have decided they don’t want to deliver the plan because it’s too difficult for them. I’m even further outraged that the Federal Government is going to let them get away with it.”

The letter from Mr Joyce, which has since been made public, states that: “If it were genuinely possible to put an additional 450GL (of water) down the river without hurting people, then none of us would have a problem with it.”

media_camera An excerpt from Mr Joyce’s letter to Mr Hunter.

“I believe we are heading into an unprotected and unsolvable stalemate, where the funding will stay on the books for a recovery that will be impossible to make in accordance with the legislative requirements — that the recovery must has (sic) positive or neutral social and economic outcomes,” Mr Joyce wrote.

Mr Hunter is veteran of SA politics, after entering Parliament in 2006.

He is the first openly gay member of the SA Parliament and cabinet and the second same sex married politician in Australia after he wed his partner of 20 years.