Mrs Dalton resigned from the party on Thursday, March 3.
She cited the party’s refusal to vote down a recent Nationals law change that allowed for excessive floodwater harvesting as her final straw.
“These law changes really disadvantaged Lower Darling communities and Murray River irrigators,” Mrs Dalton said.
“I’ve always said I’d put my electorate ahead of my party.”
However, in a statement the SFF implied Mrs Dalton had been let go by the party.
“Her position was no longer tenable within the SFF party given the inconsistencies with her own farming and water trading activities,” the party said.
“This includes the sale and water trading, albeit fully legal, to large companies that Mrs Dalton was criticising under the protection of parliamentary privilege.”
She was also criticised for working with the Greens and Independent Justin Fields, which the SFF has a zero tolerance approach to.
“We invested a significant amount of resources and trust in winning the seat off the Nationals, so it is a shame it has ended this way,” SFF leader Robert Borsak said.
“But the integrity of the party comes before any member. We tried to reconcile this earlier and internally as you would expect, but Mrs Dalton refused to budge.”
Mrs Dalton intends to remain on the NSW crossbench as an independent and will stand at the 2023 NSW state election as an independent.
Just before she resigned, Mrs Dalton said the SFF removed her as an administrator of her own Facebook page and deleted it.
“I will need to create a new page to communicate with constituents,” she said.
The SFF has vowed to find the electorate of Murray another candidate for the 2023 state election.
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