A Federal Labor MP’s attempts to claim credit for driving a water plan being held up by the Rann Government were laughable, Senator Simon Birmingham said today.
In his latest newsletter, Labor MP Steve Georganas says he
“…has ignited State Government interest in a water plan that would provide as much as 5,500 megalitres of treated waste water per year to industry and parks in Adelaide’s western suburbs and parklands.”
His own headline even claims Mr Georganas is driving the plan to stop wastewater being pumped into the sea off the Glenelg coast.
“Steve Georganas clearly has trouble telling the difference between ignition and the Rann Labor Government locking the keys in a car organised and half paid off by the Howard Government,” Senator Birmingham said today.
“There is only one thing stopping this water saving project the intransigence of Mr Georganas’s state Labor mates.
“The Howard Government put the money on the table, but the Rann Government has refused to come to the party with the necessary matching funding.
“Funding of $25 million for the Glenelg Wastewater Treatment Plant project was announced by the Prime Minister on 29 September 2004 and required only matching funding from the Rann Government to proceed.
“This funding has not been forthcoming and, under questioning in Senate Budget Estimates in May, it was revealed that Rann Government officials had advised the National Water Commission that the project was in abeyance.
“Thousands of megalitres of water are being wasted in South Australia because the Rann Labor Government’s commitment to valuable water conservation projects has all but evaporated.
“Mr Georganas has some more work to do convincing his state Labor mates to go ahead with the project or come up with an alternative before he can make claims in his newsletter about anything being ignited.
“Does Mr Georganas have any original ideas or is he, like Mr Rudd, just content to steal Liberal ideas and badge them as his own?”