Environment Minister Peter Garrett has decided that he should attend the meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Portugal next month instead of his much touted Whaling Envoy, Sandy Hollway, it was revealed today. Questioning in Senate Estimates today revealed that despite spending more than $309,106.36 for Mr Hollway’s fees and travel costs,…
$325 million promised by Labor for regional communications has vanished from the budget, leaving regional Australia with little hope of seeing improved services, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. Under questioning in Senate Budget Estimates today it was revealed that of the $400 million interest earned by the former Communications Fund and promised…
Supposed extra funding for SBS might be little more than an accounting trick, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. The Rudd Government claimed in its recent budget that it was allocating additional funding of $20 million over three years to SBS. However, in Senate Budget Estimates today it was revealed that the Government…
(Abraham: Liberal Senator, Simon Birmingham has called … good morning … you now want the Water Security Minister or the Government to do something about the Victorian pipeline? …) I welcome any progress towards a free and fair market trading system, but we also have this mad situation where Victoria continues building this pipeline…
(Cameron: … Environment Minister, Peter Garrett … from their perspective it’s okay for the State Government to go ahead and build regulators around the Goolwa Channel without conducting an Environmental Impact Statement … a lot of people are concerned that there is no Environmental Impact Statement going ahead …your perspective on the decision by…
Coalition, Greens and Independent Senators have today expressed unusually strong and united opposition to the Victorian Government’s Sugarloaf Pipeline now under construction, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. The parties have taken the rare step of issuing a consensus dissenting report to the Government-controlled majority report for the Senate inquiry into the Water Amendment…
The failure to include water issues and management of the Murray-Darling Basin on the agenda for tomorrow’s COAG meeting will cost taxpayers millions in legal fees, according to Liberal Senator for South Australia Simon Birmingham. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meets in Hobart tomorrow. “With South Australia threatening to take Victoria…
Senator Simon Birmingham said members of the public with a Centrelink, Child Support or Medicare enquiry needn’t bother turning up to Steve Georganas’s office any more after the Minister for Human Services scrapped a vital program. “Anyone who goes into Steve Georganas’s office with a Centrelink, Child Support or Medicare enquiry will now…
Plans by the Prime Minister to talk about alcohol warning labels at the COAG meeting in Adelaide today but not the River Murray just aren’t good enough according to South Australian Senator Simon Birmingham. “Making alcohol producers put warning labels on their products is an easy decision for a Prime Minister looking for…
Thousands of megalitres of water are being wasted in South Australia because the Rann Labor Government’s commitment to valuable water conservation projects had all but evaporated, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. It follows confirmation overnight, under questioning from Senator Birmingham in Senate Estimates hearings, that major water projects earmarked for South Australia had…