Water security is at the centre of the NSW Nationals election pitch to regional NSW, with the deputy premier floating a decades-old multi-state inland irrigation plan at the party's campaign launch.
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Nationals leader John Barilaro on Sunday confirmed he would write to the prime minister this week to "start the discussion" on reviving the Bradfield scheme.
The government will invest $25 million to research the merits of the scheme, which would funnel water from Queensland, through NSW and into South Australia.
Speaking at the Nationals campaign launch in his hometown of Queanbeyan, Mr Barilaro said Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack was already behind the 1930s plan.
He also revealed how the first $1 billion from the state's sale of Snowy Hydro would be spent including $650 million to sure-up water security in the Central West by raising the Wyangala Dam wall.
Another $400 million will go towards improving internet access and connectivity in the bush.
Mr Barilaro said regional NSW was "on the brink of reaping the benefits" of the coalition's eight years in government and pleaded with voters to stay the course.
"That's why now isn't the time to change the jockey mid-race," he told the crowd.
But Queensland's Labor Natural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham has said: "For nearly a century, whenever politicians are in trouble, they roll out the Bradfield scheme."
Australian Associated Press
