Irrigation communities have been told their rejection of a draft plan for the Murray-Darling Basin will not solve the problems of Australia's largest river system.
The warning from basin authority chief Craig Knowles drew angry jeers from a large audience at a community meeting in the southern NSW town of Griffith.
Earlier, some of them carried a coffin, emblazoned with the words 'R.I.P Basin Communities', to the front of the Yoogali Catholic Club hall in Griffith to make their views known to Mr Knowles, federal Water Minister Tony Burke and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Mr Knowles said he was glad representatives of communities in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area were attending the meeting to make their views known.
He acknowledged some of them already had made up their minds to oppose the plan, which proposes that 2750 gigalitres of water be allocated for the environment annually.
But doing nothing was not an option.
"It's fair for me to say that simply rejecting the plan won't make the problem go away," he said.
Mr Knowles said the draft plan was better than no plan at all.
"There are very many different views throughout the basin, many of them diametrically opposed to each other and diametrically opposed to yours," he said.
"My view is that we have tried to make a starting point. We have tried to strike a balance."
Federal Water Minister Mr Burke told the meeting a plan for the basin would be implemented in 2012, following parliament's approval.
He predicted the Australian Greens would be the only political party to vote against the plan.
The minister sought to appease clearly unhappy members of the audience by talking about plans to upgrade infrastructure.
"We now have billions of dollars getting out the door and shovels in the ground for infrastructure projects," he said.
"That needed to happen."
Mr Burke encouraged Mr Abbott to take the microphone and address the audience.
The opposition leader praised them for for standing up for their town and district.
He received an enthusiastic response when he described farmers, forresters and fishermen as the best conservationists in the country.
"You live off the land, and you know that you have got to protect the land," Mr Abbott said.
"You have a commitment to doing the right thing by future generations."
Mr Abbott maintained the coalition would not support a bad plan for the basin.
He praised Mr Burke for having the courage to front a hostile audience.
"Good on you for having the guts to turn up today."
Mr Abbott said the basin should be the food bowl of Asia, as it was for Australia.
"We want to ensure that it continues to be the greatest food-producing area of our country," he said to cheers.
Food security was an increasing issue in the modern world, Mr Abbott said.
"We won't have food security if we don't also have water security."
Mr Abbott suggested the minister listen to what was being said at community meetings.
"It is important that this government spends more time listening to people like you and less time being dictated to by Bob Brown and the Greens."
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