Nationals unveil showpiece water plan

Michael McCormack has tied the Nationals’ fortunes to a promise of building more dams.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Picture: AAP

Michael McCormack has tied the Nationals’ electoral fortunes to a promise of building more dams, despite conceding the Coalition’s failure over the past six years to get a single dam project off the drawing board.

The Nationals leader today committed a re-elected Morrison government to creating a new National Water Grid — a statutory authority that would be responsible for strategic planning and project management of national water infrastructure.

One of its first tasks would be to identify “large scale water diversion projects” that could deliver reliable and cost-effective water to farmers.

“It’s been too long since we built a dam. We can’t even raise a dam wall,” he told the National Press Club.

“I am disappointed that we haven’t built more dams. And so, if that is a failure of everyone in government, and everyone in the parliament, then that is such a shame.”

He blamed “shortsighted state governments” for failing to co-operate with the Commonwealth on dam projects, stopping many projects “at the first hurdle”.

The proposed National Water Grid would take the politics out of dam building, Mr McCormack said, bringing together the nation’s best water scientists to determine which projects should go ahead.

He said $100 million would be invested as a down-payment on efforts to identify new water diversion projects, on top of $3 billion already set aside by the Coalition for water infrastructure projects.

Mr McCormack said a 1930s-style Bradfield Scheme, which proposed redirecting Northern Australia’s rivers and creating an inland sea in Lake Eyre that could be diverted to farmers in NSW and Victoria “wouldn’t pass the cultural test, and it wouldn’t pass the environmental impact statement”.

“But the fact is we can be more sensible about this. We’ve got enough water, we just need to harvest it,” he said.

Nationals sources say the party is in danger of losing two seats: Flynn in central Queensland, and Cowper, in Northern NSW.

The party believes Michelle Landry is now looking like she may hold her north Queensland seat of Capricornia, while scandal plagued “Member for Manilla” George Christensen is tracking well in the adjoining seat of Dawson.

Mr McCormack defended the Nationals’ decision to swap preferences with One Nation, saying “you have to do what it takes to get votes and to win an election”.

“And the fact is that the National Party policies probably closer align with One Nation’s than they ever will with the Greens’ or Labor’s,” he said.

The Nationals leadership will be thrown open after the election, with Mr McCormack’s case to retain the post made more difficult if the Coalition loses the election and if the Nationals lose any seats.

Amid ongoing leadership posturing by bus predecessor Barnaby Joyce, Mr McCormack said he had done a good job “under difficult circumstances”, and he would like to stay on in the top job if he could.

“Scott Morrison and I have a very good relationship, and I hope that continues long into the future,” he said.

“But the fact is if someone wants to put their hand up they are entitled to do so. But I’ll stand on my record. I’ll stand on the fact of what I’ve done for regional Australians.”