The two things Barnaby Joyce wants from new NSW Water Minister

Melinda Pavey was named the new Water Minister, after Niall Blair decided to step down from the portfolio, due to the "level of aggression" directed towards him around water policy.

Mr Joyce invited the new minister to discuss long-term water security options for the region.

"I think the first thing she should do is come up to Tamworth," the New England MP said.

He wants the NSW government to reassess its costing of the Dungowan Dam upgrade, a project that appears to be dead in the water after a feasibility study put a $440-million price tag on it - almost three times the amount budgeted for the upgrade.

Mr Joyce believes the number to be inflated, while Tamworth Regional Council has also been told by industry experts that the figure would make the upgrade more than double per megalitre of any dam build in Australia in the last 20 years.

READ MORE

Mr Joyce also wants Ms Pavey to get the ball rolling on the Swamp Oak Dam, which he says was considered as an option alongside Chaffey Dam. 

"They were going to put a 350,000-megalitre dam here, let's start buying up the properties so we can do that," Mr Joyce said

"It's designed, it's planned, it's there. It's been there since 1974. Start doing all the basic work and show the people you have plan to do it."

The NSW government has signalled its intention to have a great focus on water, splitting it from the agriculture portfolio.

Mr Joyce stressed a sense of urgency, and pointed to the expansion of Chaffey Dam, without which "Tamworth would have run out of water by now".

"We have to plan for this city to be 100,000 and more, and it's no good trying to build water infrastructure then, it'll be too late," Mr Joyce said.

"You've got to start building it now."

Have your say. Click this link to write a letter to the editor