The same goes for telling people "not to panic". It's human nature.

Politicians from all levels of government need to stop telling their communities not to panic about the water situation.

People are far smarter than politicians and bureaucrats give them credit for, and they can see straight through the calming words and soothing tones.

If people are panicked, it's only because they believe those running the hen house are not taking the situation seriously enough, and that's reinforced every time someone tells the community "don't worry".

A better policy is to be upfront and honest about the realities we're facing. Once a genuine and sincere appraisal of the situation has been established, then we can move forward with constructive solutions.

We've heard arguments about how talking up the dire water situation will scare away investment. But is that any reason not to talk about it? As a community we still deserve to be kept appraised of the situation in all its bare bones.

The only time we've heard a politician get angry or reflect the kind of emotion the community is feeling, is when Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack blew up in parliament last week.

He was answering a "dorothy dixer" question about what the government was doing for regional communities, when Shadow Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon called out "do something about it" - "it" being the drought.

Did he touch a nerve?

After all the government has been in power for multiple terms, but it would seem they are still playing catchup when it comes to water infrastructure, especially in regional NSW.

Still, it was refreshing to see some emotion, rather than these robot responses politicians try to force feed the community.

Let's see more of that. Get angry, get emotional and channel that in to some damn action.