Dam plan defended by Tony Abbott Dams and canals built to irrigate crops and store water have been proposed in a leaked coalition document. Tony Abbott believes we have become frightened of progress. TONY Abbott insists voters must overcome "dam phobia" to plan for the future, but Labor says leaked plans to build up to 100 dams would send water prices soaring. The Opposition Leader said a document proposing $30 billion worth of options was just a discussion paper for consultation purposes with stakeholders before any final decisions were made. But like last week's leaked Top End economic plan, Mr Abbott proceeded to rule out the contentious option of transporting water 1500km from the Kimberley region to Perth. And his regional development spokesman, Bob Baldwin, immediately declared his NSW electorate of Paterson would not be home to one of the dams proposed. "There will be no Tilligra (sic) Dam built in the Hunter!" he tweeted. As revealed by News Ltd yesterday, the Coalition water taskforce detailed options to build up to 100 dams across the country to prevent floods, fuel power stations and irrigate a food boom to feed 120 million people across the Asia-Pacific. Mr Abbott said the document was for consultation, some of the dam proposals had been made by stakeholders and that some could be built by the private sector with economic spin-offs he did not detail. "What we want to avoid is the dam phobia which has afflicted our country for at least a generation," Mr Abbott said. I will lead a consultative government, a government that talks to people before it finalises decisions, doesn't simply argue with them afterwards. Deriding the options as economically and environmentally irresponsible, Environment Minister Tony Burke warned that a privately funded dam owner would want a return - driving up the costs for households. "They will know it every time they buy fresh fruit, every time they see the outcome of the increased prices for the farmers and they will know on domestic supply every time they get their water bill," Mr Burke said. He said the Coalition had campaigned against dams such as Queensland's Traveston. The proposed dams and weirs in NSW could add up to 900 gigalitres of water storage if they all were built, though the NSW government yesterday said it did not have a total statewide storage capacity figure to compare. Meanwhile, the Greens and conservation groups slammed the plan as an example of environmental destruction that was unnecessary and too expensive. "Uncosted, multibillion plans to just go around and wreck rivers are a worrying sign of the brutal Australia that might come both for people and the environment if Tony Abbott is elected," Greens MP Adam Bandt said.