The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has announced yet another delay to the release of its long overdue proposed Basin Plan. The latest delay comes just one day after the COAG Reform Council warned that any further extension of timeframes for the proposed Basin Plan‘s delivery was a key risk to future reform milestones. …
DetailsA key report has today highlighted just how far Murray-Darling Basin reform has gone off the rails under Labor, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. The COAG (Council of Australian Governments) Reform Council today released its Water Management Partnerships: Performance report for 2010 a report on the progress of the Commonwealth…
DetailsThe Auditor-General has been asked to investigate the Gillard Government handing over $20 million of Murray-Darling Basin water efficiency money for a pipeline project in New South Wales that doesn’t even deliver any water savings. It follows revelations in this week’s Senate Estimates that federal funding for the pipeline between Orange and the…
DetailsSenators Barnaby Joyce and Simon Birmingham have today released a petition* asking people to call on the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) to hold public meetings after the release of the draft Basin Plan and for the Water Minister, Tony Burke, to attend those meetings. Yesterday, it was revealed to the Senate that the…
DetailsThe Gillard Government is handing over $20 million to the New South Wales Government for a water project despite the collapse of the agreement under which it was committed. Federal departmental officials confirmed in Senate Estimates today, under questioning from Coalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham, that funding for a pipeline between Orange…
DetailsThe Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) appears reluctant to appreciate the importance of robust science underpinning its plans for reduced water use across the Basin, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. It follows confirmation in Senate Estimates today, under questioning from Senator Birmingham, that there is no scientific basis for the Authority’s split…
DetailsSouth Australia is being left behind all other states on the rollout of Labor’s hapless National Broadband Network (NBN), Senator Simon Birmingham said today. NBN Co the Government owned company charged with delivering the NBN today released its rollout schedule confirming there is no NBN construction currently underway in South Australia…
DetailsTaxpayers are still owed millions of dollars from Labor’s disastrous $2.5 billion Home Insulation Program, linked to at least four deaths and more than 200 house fires. The mounting losses have been revealed by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) today in response to questioning from Senator Simon Birmingham in…
DetailsMillions of taxpayer dollars are going to a cheer squad of organisations supporting Julia Gillard’s carbon tax at the same time as the Government’s taxpayer funded advertising campaign has blown out to twice the announced cost, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. Under questioning from Senator Birmingham in a…
DetailsThe carbon tax isn’t even law yet but the Gillard Government has already started building the massive bureaucracy it needs to administer it, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. In response to questioning from Senator Birmingham in a Senate Supplementary Budget Estimates hearing this morning, the Department of Climate…
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