Robbie Sefton examines the historic election result in Farrer and argues it reflects growing frustration with Murray-Darling Basin policy. As the 2026 Basin Plan Review approaches, she calls for governments to rethink water buybacks and pursue solutions that protect both healthy rivers and thriving regional communities.
16 June 2026
Insight from: Robbie Sefton
Last month, the residents of the electorate of Farrer in southern NSW did something that hadn't been done in the history of the Australian House of Representatives. They elected a One Nation candidate. In a seat that had been Coalition heartland for more than 70 years, they delivered the Liberal and National parties a combined primary vote of about 20 per cent and handed the seat to David Farley of One Nation.
I live on an irrigation farm between Deniliquin and Tocumwal. I watched this result from inside the community that delivered it. And I want to say something that many political commentators missed in their post-election analysis.
Farrer is not a protest vote story. It is a water story. It is a food security story. It is the story of communities that have spent a decade-and-a-half being told the science is settled, the policy is decided, and their job is to absorb the consequences. On election day, last month, they said: enough.
As the former chair of the Federal Government's Independent Panel on Social and Economic Conditions in the Murray-Darling Basin, in 2019/2020, I oversaw a report that made 22 recommendations for the future of the Basin, and its communities, and six years on, not one can be marked fully implemented.
Now, in 2026, we are anticipating the release of the 2026 Basin Plan Review, the most significant opportunity in a decade for real and significant change, and it must not be wasted.
First, the Federal Government must stop the contentious buyback program. The scientific case for further buybacks does not exist. The enormous economic and social costs are real, documented and ongoing. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder should instead purchase annual water allocations through existing markets - delivering environmental outcomes at a fraction of the cost, without permanently removing water from communities.
Buying back food production capacity while accumulating national debt to do so is not water policy. It is the absence of one.
In making my submission to the Basin Plan Review, I spoke to many people who deal with these water regulation issues, and their impacts, every day. One person I spoke to maintained the buyback program was "morally opposed" to the interests of regional communities because it "robs regional communities of jobs, processing facilities, transport networks and export dollars." They described the persistent claim that environmental water represents only 27 per cent of Basin flows as "disingenuous" because it ignores the pre-existing 50 per cent of flows that have never been accessible for consumptive use and are already preserved in Water Sharing Plans.
What all of this points to, and which has been the case for decades, is that immediate and meaningful actions must be taken. The Government must act, the opposition parties must act. And the new member for Farrer must use his mandate wisely and well.
The Basin is not just a water management problem. It is a question about the kind of future we want to build in the heart of Australia. That future includes healthy rivers and healthy communities; environmental recovery and economic opportunity. It is not too late to get this right. But the window is closing.
