Coalition MPs calling for public hearings outside of Canberra regarding Murray-Darling Basin Plan amendments

Nationals Mallee MP Anne Webster, Shadow Water Minister Perin Davey, Queensland Senator Matt Canavan and Liberal Grey MP Rowan Ramsey were in Mildura on Tuesday as part of a listening tour with affected communities.

"We believe that the communities along the Murray should be having their say," Dr Webster said.

Only two inquiry hearings are planned to be held in Canberra, but the Coalition argues crucial water regions such as Shepparton and Renmark, SA, should also host hearings.

Dr Webster said areas like the Gannawarra Shire and regions near Swan Hill would have land "left for dead with no water for it" when buybacks happen.

"And because it doesn't remain in the consumptive pool, it's gone to Commonwealth environment purposes, that land can't be used... yet the infrastructure runs through that land," she said.

"So the farmers who are left trying to irrigate their properties have a double-whammy cost... they've got dead land right next to their own, plus they've got to pay for the entire infrastructure in order to get water to their land."

Ms Davey said it was important the inquiry was as broad as possible, considering the amendments piece of legislation were "complex" and said she proposed to take the committee to the regions.

"I took forward a motion to the Senate to require the committee to come and hear from the communities that were most impacted by these amendments, which includes Mildura Renmark, Shepperton, Griffith, Deniliquin and Moree, and other places in the northern basin," she said.

"The Senate rejected that motion, they voted against it, so I'm very grateful to my colleagues, who have set time aside, to come and to listen to the community directly."

Ms Davey said that the issues over the Murray-Darling Basin Authority were not simply about "the environment versus farmers" but more focused on communities.

"We all know we can get good environmental outcomes if we start to think outside the box," she said.

"[This] Labor government's efforts to just chase numbers on a page using the simplest and laziest way possible in water recovery of buybacks, has the most significant impacts on regional communities and the communities are saying, as a government, we must do better."

At the annual Murray Darling Association conference last week Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the government was not out to buy all of the 450Gl of environmental water, but buybacks had to be "part of the mix" to deliver the plan effectively.

She said the government had "opened up a full suite of water recovery options".