Experts have reviewed the Bradfield Scheme – a decades-old idea to pipe flood waters from Australia’s north to the arid centre.

One Nation senator Pauline Hanson has become the latest to plug the 80-year-old scheme, saying she would not vote for the Coalition Government's promised $158 billion income tax cuts until it is investigated.

“We will build the hybrid Bradfield Water Scheme and drought-proof much of the country, while solving the issue of water for the Murray Darling,” she said in a recent media release.

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said the scheme was still a possibility in the recent federal election campaign.

In February this year, NSW Nationals including Deputy Premier John Barilaro pledged money to investigate building a modern version of the scheme.

In 2007, Queensland Labor premier Peter Beattie said he wanted a modern version of the scheme, and crossbench Queensland MP Bob Katter also championed it in 2008.

RMIT’s Fact Check unit has reviewed the idea, and found it to be a literal pipe dream.

“Grandiose ideas like these have historically resurfaced every time that elections are held during a drought,” said Albert Van Dijk, a professor at Australian National University.

“They have been thoroughly debunked as both uneconomical and hugely damaging. There's really no point debating them again.”

The full fact check is accessible here.