Nick Xenophon says he will not deal with any government legislation in the final week of the parliament until the dispute over water allocations in the Murray Darling Basin plan are resolved.



The move will send shock waves through the Coalition as it scrambles to pass legislation before parliament rises on Thursday. Legislation yet to pass includes the backpacker tax, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and the Vocational Education and Training bills to clean up dodgy student loans.

Xenophon holds three of the 10 crossbench votes in the Senate. To pass legislation, the government needs eight out of 10 crossbench votes.

“We need to sort out this water mess before we sort out any other pieces of legislation the government is interested in,” Xenophon said. “I think that sends a pretty clear signal all round.”

He said he had discussed the water issue with his colleagues, Mayo MP, Rebekha Sharkie, as well as senators Skye Kakoschke-Moore and Stirling Griff and the three came to the unanimous position.



He said the party was committed to resolving the water allocations for the health of the Murray and for South Australia – the most vulnerable state in the river system.



In 2009, Xenophon refused to pass the Rudd government’s $42bn stimulus package until he secured almost $1bn for water buybacks and environmental flows.

At issue is 450 gigalitres of extra water promised to South Australia in a 2013 intergovernmental agreement between the commonwealth and the states, which was brokered under former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard and the water minister, Tony Burke.

The issue was raised at a recent meeting of water ministers, which ended in a tirade from the South Australian water minister Ian Hunter directed at the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce.

Joyce told Hunter it would not be possible to deliver an 450 gigalitres as per the 2013 intergovernmental agreement.

Joyce wrote to Hunter following the meeting suggesting South Australia could not get the extra water because the plan stated it could not be delivered if it harmed upstream communities.

“If it was genuinely possible to put an additional 450 gigalitres down the river without hurting people, then none of us would have a problem with it,” Joyce wrote. “The reality is that it will.”

On Friday, Xenophon again described Joyce’s letter as a “brain fart”.

He said he was taking the stand because the South Australian government, the Liberal state opposition and his party needed to be satisfied that South Australia would not be “dudded in future”.

Xenophon met with Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday regarding the Murray Darling Plan and had a long briefing with the prime minister’s senior water advisor, who had a role in drafting the 2013 agreement.

“This [2013] agreement is a rock-solid agreement that must be adhered to – both to its letter and in its spirit,” Xenophon.

“I would say the federal government’s mind is very much focused on this issue. The prime minister offered a lot of reassurance.”

