Australian taxpayers have footed a bill approaching $1 million to send an extravagant 52 person delegation to a single three-day conference in Brazil, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. Details of the size and cost of Australia’s attendance at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, in Rio de…
The Gillard Government should remove land use restrictions locking up thousands of hectares of previously irrigated land, Coalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. A condition of grants to landowners surrendering water entitlements under the Small Block Irrigators Exit Grant Package was that the land owned by the applicant would not be…
Tony Burke must act to end the funding dispute engulfing the states and Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) which MDBA Chair Craig Knowles said, if unresolved, would see “the administration of the assets and functions of the Basin will rapidly deteriorate.” Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray-Darling Basin Simon Birmingham today called for Water…
Labor’s failing of South Australians on broadband has been exposed in Senate Estimates overnight, Liberal Senator for South Australia Simon Birmingham said today. Under questioning from Senator Birmingham, NBN Co confirmed a failure to connect any South Australians to the National Broadband Network (NBN) in the 19 months of its so-called ‘volume rollout’.…
Environment Department officials might have been turning a blind eye to the sinking of asylum seeker boats by the Gillard Government, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. Hundreds of illegal entry vessels are thought to have been sunk off the waters of Christmas Island, part of the only known…
Australian taxpayers have officially lost millions of dollars more as a result of bad debts now written off under Labor’s disastrous ‘Pink Batts’ Home Insulation Program, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham has said today. The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency has told a Senate Estimates hearing they are…
Australian taxpayers are likely to wear a $1 million blowout in the cost of moving the Gillard Government’s climate change bureaucracy, largely associated with the collapse of an engineering group of companies. The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) had budgeted $20.5 million towards the cost of fitting out its new…
Penrice Soda has today announced it is closing Australia’s only soda ash production plant resulting in 60 job losses in Adelaide. “This is terrible news for South Australia and another blow to our local manufacturing industry,” Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. “Penrice Soda dates back almost 80…
“The desperation of the Member for Hindmarsh, Steve Georganas MP, is on full show this week as he seeks to mislead voters in Hindmarsh,” Senator Simon Birmingham said today. “Just two weeks ago The Advertiser proclaimed ‘Libs’ vote secures Murray Victory’ following the Liberal Party’s announcement of support for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. “Yet…
Jay Weatherill and the South Australian Government have extraordinarily passed on the opportunity to explain the benefits of his Murray-Darling Basin deal with Julia Gillard to a Senate inquiry in Adelaide this morning. The Senate committee inquiry is taking evidence on two pieces of legislation* that relate to the much hyped announcement made…