Shadow Minister for Water Perin Davey hosted the event, and was joined by Member for Farrer and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party Sussan Ley, Queensland Senator Matt Canavan, Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell and Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey to listen to the community.

The five politicians heard almost two hours of speculative takes and horror stories from over 100 members of the community, ranging from concern to abject despair at the prospect of the water buybacks continuing.

Plenty stood up to have their say in the forum, from several SunRice employees to councillors and general manager Brett Stonestreet.

Mayor of Carrathool Darryl Jardine explained that the 450GL would be roughly equivalent to all the irrigated water that the entire shire uses.

"If you take a megalitre out of the system, willing or not, you're not only hurting small towns but the flow-on effect is huge," he said.

"If the government are so hellbent on pursuing this, perhaps they can buy it back from Penny Wong or Malcolm Turnbull or any of the others who hold water but don't produce."

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Irrigator Liz Stott and president of the Ricegrowers Association Peter Herrmann both reflected on the sense of 'deja vu,' repeating the same talking points for over a decade.

"It was 14 years ago, we were in the Yoogali Club having these same conversations ... as farmers, we are always accountable for every megalitres we use - not just for the sake of running a good business but for the sake of the environment," Ms Stott said.

"We are in a deja vu situation. What we all need is some calls for accountability with a vision that you are going to have influence again to put this back in place," added Mr Herrmann.

"There are people in the MDBA who are highly sympathetic to our case ... We have got to stick to our guns, hold our heads high and hold them accountable for where that water is being used."

Julie Andreazza, an irrigator and mental health worker, asked what was being done to limit the impact on irrigator's mental health through the buybacks.

General manager of Griffith City Council Brett Stonestreet railed against the bureaucracy and made the appeal that taking the water would erode confidence in the region.

"We need to keep standing up to say that it's not about numbers, it's about dropping confidence," he said.

From the day, the various attending politicians promised to collate the statements into a report to present to parliament - while other lobbying efforts continue including a potential 'Day of Action' foreshadowed by Ms Ley.

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