Build more dams if concerned about drought: Canavan to Treasurer

An LNP senator has demanded more dams for Queensland after the federal Treasurer warned off a looming climate emergency.

More dams should be built, not fewer, if the federal government is concerned climate change means more droughts, LNP senator Matt Canavan says.

It follows Treasurer Jim Chalmers giving a speech at the National Drought Forum in Rockhampton on Tuesday where he warned climate change was expected to lead to lower crop yield and cost the economy $1.8bn a year by 2063.

Also at the forum, Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt announced $300,000 grants for drought resilience plans for five Queensland regions: Fitzroy and Capricornia; Darling Downs; Burdekin and Charters Towers; Torres Strait and Cape York; and South West Queensland.

LNP Senator Matt Canavan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

In its first budget, the Labor government cut funding for the $5.6bn Hells Gates Dam, the $483m Urannah Dam and indefinitely delayed funds for the Emu Swamp Dam and Hughenden irrigation system.

Senator Canavan said the government had only left the money for $600m Paradise Dam in Queensland.

“If climate change means more droughts then we should build more dams to help us store water to get through the dry times,” he said.

“If Jim is so worried about droughts why did he cut all the funding for dam building that we left him?”

Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has previously said the government was spending $2bn on water, 60 per cent of which was going to Queensland.

She has said the government was deferring or cancelling funding for projects that did not stack up, which included Urannah and Hells Gate dams.

Mr Chalmers said conditions were likely to get harsher and everyone needed to work together to address drought, disasters and climate change.

“Drought is a billion-dollar threat to our economy, and it impacts disproportionately in parts of Australia that we’re really counting on and so we take the challenge of drought very seriously,” he said at the National Drought Forum.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, Queensland Agriculture Minister Mark Furner, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Senator Anthony Chisholm. Picture: Geordi Offord

“We are investing a lot of money into communities like this one around Australia to make sure that we can meet this challenge, and to do that in the most collaborative way possible.”

Meanwhile, the drought resilience plans were developed with local councils and include grants of up to $300,000 to kickstart actions identified in them.

Senator Watt said the plans were an important part of community readiness for drought.

“With hotter, drier conditions on the way on the back of El Nino conditions now confirmed for Australia, it’s vital communities are equipped with the right tools to be more resilient to drought, and to bounce back quicker,” Senator Watt said.