ELEANOR HALL: The Auditor-General today flayed the Federal Government over its tender process for the Australia Network contract, pointing to several serious flaws in the process. The Auditor General’s report, which was released this morning, says the process cost the two tenderers the ABC and Sky News time and money. …
DetailsThe Government must act to restore confidence in the Murray-Darling Basin reform process and release all legal advice relating to the consistency of the proposed Basin Plan with the Water Act, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. “With conflicting legal advice being touted by environmentalists, irrigators and the South Australian Government, it’s…
DetailsDAVID BEVAN: Well, by now, everything was meant to be hunky-dory. We were well into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and everybody was getting along and the river was looking better. That’s by now because this agreement was signed off… remember the big meeting we had here in Adelaide? I think it was at the…
DetailsLEON BYNER: Now, New South Wales and other states’ environmental groups have joined together and they’ve got some legal advice and they’re saying that the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s draft Plan is illegal. The advice says the Plan contravenes the federal Water Act because it prioritises social and economic impact instead of the river’s long…
DetailsMICHAEL SMYTH: Now, a major announcement today has been made in relation to the National Broadband Network, with plans announced to roll out to 3½ million homes, schools and businesses including about 330,000 here in South Australia. This is over the next three years or so. If you’ve got any questions about what the…
Details“South Australians are being taken for fools by a Labor Government who thinks dodgy figures and implied promises will make up for their failure to deliver the National Broadband Network (NBN),” Opposition Senate Communications spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. ? It follows the Government’s announcement today of a new NBN fibre rollout plan designed…
DetailsSIMON BIRMINGHAM: It beggars belief that the Weatherill Government, which has been one of the harshest critics of this Basin Plan, didn’t take every opportunity to be involved in its development. South Australians will rightly wonder why this Government thought it was too much trouble to send a couple of public servants to Canberra…
DetailsSouth Australia’s Labor Government didn’t place enough importance on the future of the Murray to accept an invitation to embed staff with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. Offers from the Authority, including an offer to pay all costs, and refusals from the Labor State Government have…
DetailsLEON BYNER: Now, the River Murray is an important issue for us. Thank goodness nature is giving us a few gifts at the moment. There’s even the possibility of flooding but the State Government has turned down the chance for senior staff to be involved in drafting the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Now, the chairman…
DetailsPHILIP RUDDOCK: … on behalf of my colleagues as members of the Parliamentary Amnesty group [Amnesty International Parliamentary Group] that this is an important occasion because almost all Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate have endorsed the view, following the Amnesty report, that China and Russia should be involved in changing…
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