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Rikki Lambert

Rebel National backs SA Murray getting 450 gigalitres


The South Australian Nationals president and candidate for Barker, taking in most of the SA Murray, has backed in delivering 450 gigalitres more water under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.


Jonathan Pietzsch said in his role as state president he had previously taken on his interstate colleagues on the issue at their party meetings:

" I'm probably at odds with my federal colleagues if I'm honest.
"I've had this debate and argument with them on the federal conference and council floor in Canberra when we had those meetings."
"I think it's important for irrigated security as well that we do have that flow but I think we need to be looking at other ways of supplementing our water supply in South Australia, and look I'll probably be told it's not economical, but we've got a desal plant that's not doing anything most of the time, so, there's got to be other ways we can look to alleviate water pressures."

Hear the full interview with Jonathan Pietzsch on the Flow podcast player below:



Pietzsch attracted just 4.7 per cent of the primary vote in the safe Liberal-held state seat of Mackillop in the south-east in March's state election, placing last behind Liberal incumbent Nick McBride (62.3 per cent), the ALP's Mark Braes (20 per cent), One Nation's Pam Giehr (8.1 per cent) and Family First's Dayle Baker (4.9 per cent).


Barker voters will have 9 choices on May 21st, with Pietzsch drawing the prize number 1 position on the ballot paper, widely believed to benefit from 'donkey' voters numbering 1-9 from top to bottom. Other candidates are Carlos Quaremba (One Nation), independents Vince Pannell and Maddy Fry, the Greens' Rosa Hillam, incumbent Liberal MP Tony Pasin, United Australia Party's David Swiggs, Braes also reprising his Mackillop run for Labor, and Kym Hanton for the Australian Federation Party.


Mr Pietzsch has flagged that if elected he would draw more federal funding into the seat. He declared that it was 'no coincidence National Party seats around the nation have seen billions invested into local development and nation building projects'.


Immediately across the border in Victoria, the Nationals have long held the federal seat of Mallee - although local MP Anne Webster recently conceded on Flow that she would have liked to attract more federal funding to the seat than she had to date.


The SA Nationals' sole House of Representatives candidate flagged that small modular nuclear reactors could be such a nation-building initiative adopted in South Australia to provide the state with energy security.


The SA Nationals recently announced their Senate ticket is led by state No. 2 Legislative Council candidate Lisa Sherry from Murray Bridge, and failed Chaffey candidate in the same state election second on the ticket, Damien Buijs.

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