GREENS, coalition and independent Senators have called for the Brumby Government's north-south pipeline plan to be scrapped.
They've also called for up to 60 gigalitres of water to be found over the next year to save the water-starved Coorong and Lower Lakes from acidification.
The calls came as a Senate inquiry into water management of the two South Australian areas handed down its findings.
In a majority report, Labor Senators concluded there wasn't enough water in the system to send extra water down the river to the Coorong and Lower Lakes.
They said there needed to be a long-term management plan drawn up, with the potential for "bio-remediation" of exposed acid sulphate soils to be further investigated. Barriers to water trading should also be lifted to allow for a more efficient water market, they said.
But, in a minority report, Greens Senators and independent Senator Nick Xenophon said any plan to flood the two SA sites with sea water should be ruled out.
They said 30-60 gigalitres of fresh water can be found in the MDB system between now and September next year to keep the sites above the "critical acidification level".
The planned north-south pipeline, which would extract 75 gigalitres from the Goulburn system for Melbourne, "should not go ahead", they said.
And the new MDB Authority should be given the powers to deal with this type of new extraction from the system.
Liberal and Nationals Senators also said the decision to build the pipeline was based on "politics, not evidence", and construction should cease.
- Senator Xenophon will address the Rural Press Club of Victoria at a lunch at the Hilton on the Park in East Melbourne on October 31. The lunch is open to the public. For bookings phone (03) 9696 5899.
