Billions of litres in potential water savings remain unavailable to irrigators or the environment due to Julia Gillard’s failure to progress works at the Menindee Lakes water storage, Coalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. The re-engineering of Menindee Lakes in New South Wales headed a list of Labor priority projects at…
DetailsAustralians angry at the bungling of water reform deserve to know the full story surrounding legal advice over preparation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. A Freedom of Information application by Senator Birmingham for legal advice, to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, relating to the weighting of economic,…
DetailsThe Gillard Government is fast running out of time for a smooth handover at the helm of Murray-Darling Basin reform, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. It is now 45 days since Mike Taylor announced on 7 December that he would leave the role of Chair of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA)…
DetailsMIKE SMITHSON: Now, as we heard last week, Tony Abbott’s Coalition has formed a task force to build more dams around Australia to capture stormwater and floodwater given the enormity of the flood in the eastern states, it seems like a pretty sound idea but the Federal Government has already started throwing mud at…
DetailsJulia Gillard is deliberately misleading Australians by claiming she wants to keep the Murray-Darling reform process on time. Coalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman, Senator Simon Birmingham, says the Prime Minister knows full well that delays imposed by her government mean the reform cannot and will not be delivered according to the initial timeline. …
DetailsLAINIE ANDERSON: … Simon Birmingham … what do you think or what do you make of the idea that former South Australian Water Minister Karlene Maywald could head the Murray-Darling Basin Authority or is one of many being touted as a possible head? SIMON BIRMINGHAM: … Karlene’s obviously an ably intelligent woman, she…
DetailsThe Gillard Government was already dealing with 200 claims for compensation over its Green Loans Program prior to this week announcing its replacement program would not proceed, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. The figure has been revealed in an answer to a question taken on notice by the…
DetailsSecret advice revealed by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) under Freedom of Information laws shows that Government-imposed delays mean timelines required under the Water Act for finalisation of the controversial Basin Plan cannot be achieved. The Incoming Minister’s Brief provided by the MDBA to Water Minister Tony Burke following his appointment in September…
DetailsIn a further embarrassment highlighting Julia Gillard’s program chaos, the Federal Government has today announced it is scrapping yet another one of its key environmental schemes. It continues a pattern of disaster and mismanagement in the environment portfolio. We’ve had the collapse of the Home Insulation Program, the demise of the Green…
DetailsWater Minister Tony Burke has today failed to address the confusion surrounding the crisis ridden Murray-Darling Basin reform process, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. Murray-Darling Basin Water Ministers today met in Albury and have issued a communiqué stating they have “agreed to support a new process for the Basin Plan going…
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