"It's a misunderstanding of the natural system in Australia, which goes from big droughts to big floods," said Willem Vervoort, a professor of hydrology and catchment management at Sydney University. He said the idea was "a bit of a knee-jerk reaction and an old-fashioned view on this kind of issue, when most of the international research shows dams to be detrimental to the environment."
The chief executive of the Australian Water Association, Tom Mollenkopf, said that while dams played a part in water management, they needed to be part of a well-considered system.
"I don't think we should be making announcements about flood mitigation while water is still swirling around people's properties," he said.
"Tony Abbott has spoken about building dams for both water storage and flood mitigation and, from an engineering perspective, those two things are very separate."
