What the Government now says it said during the election campaign: “What the Prime Minister said was that we would as a government implement the Murray-Darling Basin Authority plan. That document is the final document that comes out at the end of next year after there has been an opportunity for ministerial intervention,…
DetailsA last-minute handover of a key economic report will only create further doubt in the minds of stakeholders about the thoroughness of the Murray-Darling Basin reform process under the Gillard Government, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. It was revealed in Senate Estimates this morning, under questioning from Senator Birmingham, that the…
DetailsAustralian taxpayers are paying millions of dollars for round-the-world travel by public servants attending global talks on climate change at a rate of more than one global gathering per week, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. The Gillard Government spent $2.74 million on travel by public servants to attend…
DetailsCleaning up the Gillard Government’s insulation disasters has so far cost Australian taxpayers $98 million with the meter still running. The mounting cost of inspections and related rectification work was revealed this evening by departmental officials in Senate Supplementary Budget Estimates under questioning from Senator Simon Birmingham, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment.…
DetailsLabor must speak with one tongue on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. “The more Labor talks about Murray-Darling Basin reform the more they contradict each other,” Senator Birmingham said. “According to Julia Gillard they will do whatever it takes to implement the MDBA’s plan. “According to Tony Burke…
DetailsTony Burke and Julia Gillard want to send a parliamentary committee to talk to communities that they do not have the courage to face. Their move today highlights the Government’s lack of response to the Authority’s Draft Plan Guide and the failure of Labor’s policies to date and shows it now wants to…
DetailsWater Minister Tony Burke is resorting to taxpayer funded advertising as he tries to have it both ways on the Murray-Darling Basin reform consultation process, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. “On the one hand, Mr Burke is avoiding stakeholder passions at Basin-wide consultation sessions by saying he doesn’t want to be…
DetailsWater Minister Tony Burke must front up and attend some of the Community Information Sessions being conducted by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority into its Guide to the proposed Basin Plan. More than 600 concerned and passionate locals attended the first of these sessions in Shepparton today, expressing their frustrations at the proposals within…
DetailsCoalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham is in Shepparton today to witness firsthand the start of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s consultation on its Guide to the proposed Basin Plan. “It is critically important that we get Basin reform right for the environment, for our ongoing productive capacity and for the communities relying on…
DetailsCommunities throughout the Murray-Darling Basin have been suffering throughout years of drought, while this iconic river system has suffered through not only drought, but mismanagement. If we are to get a plan that deals with the three critical issues of, the economy, peoples’ lives as identified in the social fabric of the basin,…
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