THE Nationals are set this weekend to reject Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's proposal for a last-resort referendum to give the federal government power over the Murray-Darling basin.
The slap for Mr Abbott is contained in a motion before the party's federal conference that is expected to pass with strong support.
The referendum proposal is one of the main policy differences between the Coalition partners.
Mr Abbott said in January that a Coalition government would invite the states to refer power over the Murray-Darling water management to the Commonwealth. If the states were unwilling by mid-2012 to refer the powers necessary to manage the basin, the government would put the referendum question in conjunction with the 2013 election.
But the Nationals fear future federal governments could divert too much water back into the system for environmental purposes.
Opposition spokesman on water Barnaby Joyce said the motion would pass, but he would not be voting for it because he was a frontbencher.
''My view on a referendum is that it is the last proposition before the coming of Christ,'' he said. A referendum would be highly unlikely to pass without the support of the states, he said.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham, from water-sensitive South Australia, said that having a referendum would be a last resort. ''But if you can't get the states to act more effectively on water than they are now, you need that last resort.''
Another motion calls on the Nationals in government to legislate for ''a balance'' between environmental needs and those of water users.
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