New South Wales Treasurer Matt Kean says he now supports a plan to raise the wall of Warragamba Dam, having previously spoken against the move when serving as environment minister.
Mr Kean today said he was "convinced" the project would help mitigate the impacts of severe weather and flooding on Western Sydney residents.
He echoed Premier Dominic Perrottet's line that the proposal put "people before plants", and said it was time for the government to "crack on with it" the controversial project.
"As the former environment minister, its well-known my love for national parks, my love for the world heritage area of the Blue Mountains," he said.
"However, if it becomes a choice between water lapping up in the lounge rooms and living rooms of the people of Western Sydney, or in the national park, I'm gonna back the people of Western Sydney every day."
The about face from Mr Kean comes a day after Mr Perrottet declared the dam project was "critical", saying the plan to raise it 14 metres would "save lives".
"If there was a major flooding event in the Hawkesbury-Nepean, by raising the dam wall we would reduce those properties that would be affected from 15,000 to 5,000," the Premier said.
Opponents of the plans say raising the wall would inundate land in the Blue Mountains National Park, destroying important environmental and Indigenous sites.
In 2019, Mr Kean said he would "stand up" for the Blue Mountains National Park on the subject of raising the wall.
"The reality is there are other ways to mintage for the potential for floods," he said at the time.
"I think that the economics of raising the dam wall would make the project unviable."
Speaking in Parramatta today, Mr Kean said he remained a "fierce advocate for our environment" but claimed recent weather events such as record floods had led him to reconsider his position.
"I don't think anyone can say that the weather conditions ... the more extreme weather events that we're seeing aren't impacting communities," he said.
"This is becoming the new norm, so we need to protect our citizens."
