After five years as a minister, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has been catapulted out of cabinet and into the back benches in a big surprise in Monday's long-awaited state cabinet reshuffle.

Meanwhile, Tamworth's Kevin Anderson has been elevated to water and lands, hospitality and racing. If he'd been given the ministry for sky on Monday, he'd be everywhere.

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For Adam Marshall, the most popular MP in NSW, an Agriculture Minister with no obvious major scandals or spectacular screwups, the sacking seems a pretty odd fate. In a Facebook post announcing the layoff, Mr Marshall said he "cannot wait" to go back to his earlier role as energetic local advocate, freed from the binds by cabinet solidarity.

It's the first big setback in 17 years in politics for Mr Marshall, who was widely considered a contender for leadership as recently as earlier this year.

Tamworth's Kevin Anderson must be worrying if his promotion is even worse news.

Has the new minister for water been handed history's biggest poisoned chalice?

At 22 gigalitres, the Dungowan Dam will fit a truly world-beating amount of hemlock.

Minister Anderson will have a lot of work to do turning around the ill-fated project - and the stakes couldn't be higher for him and Tamworth.

In the 800 days since the Prime Minister and Premier announced the "fast tracked" $484 million project, former Minister Melinda Pavey had yet to even announce a date for the release of its business case or environmental impact statement before her resignation on Saturday.

In her last local press conference Ms Pavey's best explanation for nearly a year of delays was "because".

Part of the issue was that the Kempsey-based MP never had the same electoral - or personal - stake in a project that will cement the Tamworth's water security the city's own MP will.

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By contrast, Mr Anderson is not only elected here, he lives here.

If he doesn't get the damn dam dug in a reasonable timeframe, it'll not just be his career buried in the region's biggest hole, it'll be his house price too.

I don't want to sound too negative.

To take my journalist hat off for a second, as a homeowner I personally feel the project has much better prospects in local hands.

I think Mr Anderson can do the job - he just may lose a lot of sleep over it.

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