Nationals leader Michael McCormack has labelled water buybacks "lazy politics" as he pledged to set up a new government authority to guide dam construction.
In an election address to the National Press Club in Canberra, the deputy prime minister promised more dams would be built under a re-elected coalition government.
"We can be more sensible about this. We've got enough water, we just need to harness it and harvest it," he said.
The coalition would spend $100 million on establishing a National Water Grid, a statutory authority with scientists guiding large-scale water diversions.
Their work would inform decisions about water infrastructure, in a bid to guard against political agendas.
Two water purchases worth almost $80 million made when Barnaby Joyce was water minister in 2017 have hit headlines during the campaign.
Mr McCormack made an emphatic statement about buybacks generally.
"I do think buybacks are lazy policy," he said.
He also took aim at vegan activists who invade farms, three days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised to legislate new penalties against them in the first parliamentary week if re-elected.
"Ratbag mobs, using a misleading title like Aussie Farms, will be treated with the full force of the law," Mr McCormack said.
"Jobs, not mobs. Jobs, not snobs. That's what the Nationals stand for."
Mr McCormack said he wanted to use his national megaphone as a party leader to bridge the gap between city and country.
"Sadly I sometimes think the divide between metropolitan and country has never been wider," he told AAP on Monday.
"Sometimes I think that Great Dividing Range is more than just a geographical barrier, it's also a metaphorical barrier."
Mr McCormack, who along with Nationals colleagues has derided "latte-sipping" elites in cities, said the left had more to answer for.
He rebuked left-wing columnist Van Badham for bad language used against conservative politicians.
"I think that her language is far worse than calling some of the metropolitan people a latte sipper," he said.
While he agreed with former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd that more civility was needed in politics, Mr McCormack also lamented left-wing people using Twitter as a weapon against the regions.
The Nationals leader defended his leadership style, saying he worked hard behind the scenes to deliver for country Australia and had a strong relationship with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
"I don't get out on the mountain tops and scream about how good I am," Mr McCormack said.
