Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I completely reject the premise of the question, and clearly Senator Hanson-Young did not listen to my detailed answer, which made the point that new or expanded dams don't create water but, rather, intercept and store large volumes of water, which can then be managed as regulated releases. I also made the point that all of this water that is stored within dams needs to be used by entitlement volume within the sustainable diversion limits. So this is not a matter of somehow taking more water. It is a matter of storing the water that is available to ensure that it can be used more effectively at the appropriate time.