SIMON BIRMINGHAM: For 12 days now Tony Burke has been the missing man of the Murray-Darling. Today we learn that he’s finally, tonight, going to meet with some irrigator and industry groups. We’ve got to ask the question, where has he been for these 12 days? Why hasn’t he been out there talking to the communities…
DetailsWater Minister Tony Burke is resorting to taxpayer funded advertising as he tries to have it both ways on the Murray-Darling Basin reform consultation process, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. “On the one hand, Mr Burke is avoiding stakeholder passions at Basin-wide consultation sessions by saying he doesn’t want to be…
DetailsTony Burke and Julia Gillard want to send a parliamentary committee to talk to communities that they do not have the courage to face. Their move today highlights the Government’s lack of response to the Authority’s Draft Plan Guide and the failure of Labor’s policies to date and shows it now wants to…
DetailsLabor must speak with one tongue on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. “The more Labor talks about Murray-Darling Basin reform the more they contradict each other,” Senator Birmingham said. “According to Julia Gillard they will do whatever it takes to implement the MDBA’s plan. “According to Tony Burke…
DetailsSIMON BIRMINGHAM: Tony Burke has become the missing man of Murray-Darling Basin reform. He’s not showing up to communities to engage in the consultation process. In stead, he’s leaving it to public servants to front angry and aggrieved people whose futures are on the line. Equally, Tony Burke and the Labor Government now appear to…
DetailsDAVID SPEERS: As we mentioned earlier, the Government is, well, starting to react to the growing anger from farmers and local regional communities to the Guide to the first draft of the Murray-Darling Plan. Simon Crean, the Minister for Regional Australia, says he understands those concerns, particularly for those who think that the impact on…
DetailsLEON BYNER: … Simon Birmingham, who is the Coalition’s representative, he’s their Opposition spokesman on the Murray River… he’s taken it upon himself to go to these consultations and just see what the difference is going to be between the Draft Plan, that is not a done deal according to the Minister, and what…
DetailsCoalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham is in Shepparton today to witness firsthand the start of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s consultation on its Guide to the proposed Basin Plan. “It is critically important that we get Basin reform right for the environment, for our ongoing productive capacity and for the communities relying on…
DetailsWater Minister Tony Burke must front up and attend some of the Community Information Sessions being conducted by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority into its Guide to the proposed Basin Plan. More than 600 concerned and passionate locals attended the first of these sessions in Shepparton today, expressing their frustrations at the proposals within…
DetailsCommunities throughout the Murray-Darling Basin have been suffering throughout years of drought, while this iconic river system has suffered through not only drought, but mismanagement. If we are to get a plan that deals with the three critical issues of, the economy, peoples’ lives as identified in the social fabric of the basin,…
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