South Australian Senator Rex Patrick believes there should be a national debate and plans to introduce legislation next week which proposes a ban on all cotton exports.
Twenty-seven percent of the entire allocation of irrigation water across the Murray Darling goes to cotton farming and international export.
Senator Patrick says we are sucking the lifeblood out of the river system at the expense of downstream food producers, the towns and cities dependent on the river system for water supply, and the overall environmental health of the river system all the way to Coorong lagoon in South Australia.