Fresh allegations of water misuse within the Murray Darling Basin plan have sparked renewed calls for a royal commission into the $13 billion scheme.
Queensland farmers have blown the whistle alleging an irrigator making millions of dollars from the scheme has built a levee blocking large amounts of water from flowing downstream.
South Australian senator Nick Xenophon told Lateline on Thursday the case highlights the need for a royal commission.
He'll be putting up a motion in the Senate next week asking for documents from the Murray Darling Basin Authority and the federal government about the latest allegations.
"It looks like this $13 billion project, this nation-building plan to save the river, to save farming communities is being built on a house of cards because the compliance mechanisms just have so many holes in them," he said.
He says Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce cannot continue to credibly act as minister for water and agriculture because both have competing interests in protecting the environment and farmers' interests.
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