SIMON ROYAL: Residents of the South Australian town of Truro are taking their fight over digital television to Canberra. They’re furious at the extra costs they’ll have to pay to install individual satellite dishes to receive the signal when it’s switched over. This, mind you, is for free-to-air TV the stuff you’re watching…
DetailsCHRIS UHLMANN: Today offered another insight into the dysfunction at the heart of the Gillard Government during its simmering leadership tensions. An Auditor-General’s report declared the flawed tender process for the overseas television service cast the Government in a poor light and raised questions about its fairness. The tender panel twice recommended Sky TV…
DetailsANDREW GREENE: Hello and welcome to Capital Hill. I’m Andrew Greene on a day of dramatic developments in two long-awaited investigations troubling the Gillard Government. First, this morning, the Commonwealth Auditor-General highlighted a series of flaws in the Government’s handling of the tender for the Australia Network contract. Then, hours later, Fair Work Australia…
DetailsMARK COLVIN: The Federal Opposition says a scathing audit report on the Australia Network tender process calls into question the future of the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy. The Auditor-General says the 13-month process to decide on an operator for the overseas television service was flawed and cast the Government in a poor light. The…
DetailsELEANOR HALL: The Auditor-General today flayed the Federal Government over its tender process for the Australia Network contract, pointing to several serious flaws in the process. The Auditor General’s report, which was released this morning, says the process cost the two tenderers the ABC and Sky News time and money. …
DetailsKIERAN GILBERT: We’re now going to cross to Adelaide Liberal frontbencher Senator Simon Birmingham, spokesman for the Coalition on Murray-Darling and [in the Senate see below] Communications. Senator, thanks for your time. First of all, can I get your thoughts on this [Australia21] report and the prominent Australians calling for a rethink…
DetailsDAVID BEVAN: Well, by now, everything was meant to be hunky-dory. We were well into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and everybody was getting along and the river was looking better. That’s by now because this agreement was signed off… remember the big meeting we had here in Adelaide? I think it was at the…
DetailsLEON BYNER: Now, New South Wales and other states’ environmental groups have joined together and they’ve got some legal advice and they’re saying that the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s draft Plan is illegal. The advice says the Plan contravenes the federal Water Act because it prioritises social and economic impact instead of the river’s long…
DetailsMICHAEL SMYTH: Now, a major announcement today has been made in relation to the National Broadband Network, with plans announced to roll out to 3½ million homes, schools and businesses including about 330,000 here in South Australia. This is over the next three years or so. If you’ve got any questions about what the…
DetailsSIMON BIRMINGHAM: It beggars belief that the Weatherill Government, which has been one of the harshest critics of this Basin Plan, didn’t take every opportunity to be involved in its development. South Australians will rightly wonder why this Government thought it was too much trouble to send a couple of public servants to Canberra…
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