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…
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)…
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. …
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…
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…
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…
DetailsThe Gillard Government has been sitting on warnings that the crisis ridden Murray-Darling Basin Plan under development could increase the risk of flooding, documents released under Freedom of Information laws reveal. Documents provided to Coalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham include briefing notes about the risk of flooding particularly in rural areas under…
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…
DetailsToday’s Murray-Darling ministerial meeting provides Water Minister Tony Burke with the chance to answer the many outstanding questions Labor’s mishandling of basin reform has presented. Coalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman Senator Simon Birmingham has called on Mr Burke to seize the opportunity provided by today’s meeting in Albury to deliver newfound clarity and direction…
Details?”State Governments must urgently talk and agree to stop the reported release of water from the Snowy River while downstream rivers are in flood,” Coalition Murray-Darling Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. Snowy Hydro is apparently required by the New South Wales Office of Water, under its licence, to repay water to the system…
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