SIMON BIRMINGHAM: I think there’s a couple of things out of today firstly, the question of: where was the South Australian Government? The initial programme for this hearing had the South Australian Government listed as the first item up sure, ‘to be confirmed’ but they were expected to be here. They were…
DAVID BONE: Well, as I mentioned, South Australian Coalition MPs have threatened to cross the floor and vote with the Government to ensure that the Prime Minister’s changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan make it through the Parliament. Simon Birmingham is a Liberal Senator for South Australia. Simon Birmingham, would they really cross the…
MATTHEW PANTELIS: Big day on the River Murray, Keith of course, 3200 more gigs [gigalitres]. KEITH CONLON: Yeah, Prime Minister about to announce it on the Lower Lakes but of course it’s got to get through Federal Parliament. For a look at the Opposition stance on it, Senator Simon Birmingham of…
LYNDAL CURTIS: One of the central planks of the Government’s latest policy on asylum seekers is what’s called the ‘no disadvantage’ test for the time it takes to process asylum claims but it’s still a test without a firm definition. The President of the Human Rights Commission has told a Senate Estimates hearing in…
LUKE GRANT: … more details about the botched Home Insulation Program have emerged in Senate Estimates hearings, showing just how poorly run the Federal Government’s scheme was. We can’t forget the money wasted here. We can’t forget that people died here, either. I mean, we really cannot. The failed program has cost Australian taxpayers…
TREVOR SCOTT: … we’re going to catch up with Senator Simon Birmingham. Basin modelling… the MDBA [Murray-Darling Basin Authority] have put out yet some more modelling on the flows in the River and ‘what could be achieved if’. Let’s find out what this is really trying to tell us with Simon Birmingham. Good morning,…
LEON BYNER: … now comes the news that, as predicted, the desal plant is far too big and far too expensive. In fact, it’s going to be put on standby as it completes a two-year warranty running period and then it’s going to be shut down because we’ve got more than enough water coming…
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Today I understand that the Water Minister, Tony Burke, will release some updated modelling in relation to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. I welcome this and I hope that, in releasing it, it will take us one step closer to ending what has been 120 years of argument between the states and what…
DAVID LIPSON: Well, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Labor MP Craig Thomson on the doors of Parliament House arguing the Government’s case but today he felt that he was on a winner after a letter was sent to him this week from the Opposition, courting his vote on the matter of superannuation.…
ANNABELLE HOMER: Well, pressure is being put on the South Australian Government to justify why so much Federal Government money was invested to increase the size of the desal plant. Federal Coalition spokesperson for the Murray-Darling Basin Simon Birmingham is calling for the Commonwealth Auditor-General to investigate this further. The Federal Government invested $228…