Environment Department officials might have been turning a blind eye to the sinking of asylum seeker boats by the Gillard Government, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. Hundreds of illegal entry vessels are thought to have been sunk off the waters of Christmas Island, part of the only known…
DetailsAustralian taxpayers have officially lost millions of dollars more as a result of bad debts now written off under Labor’s disastrous ‘Pink Batts’ Home Insulation Program, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham has said today. The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency has told a Senate Estimates hearing they are…
DetailsAustralian taxpayers are likely to wear a $1 million blowout in the cost of moving the Gillard Government’s climate change bureaucracy, largely associated with the collapse of an engineering group of companies. The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) had budgeted $20.5 million towards the cost of fitting out its new…
DetailsPenrice Soda has today announced it is closing Australia’s only soda ash production plant resulting in 60 job losses in Adelaide. “This is terrible news for South Australia and another blow to our local manufacturing industry,” Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. “Penrice Soda dates back almost 80…
Details“The desperation of the Member for Hindmarsh, Steve Georganas MP, is on full show this week as he seeks to mislead voters in Hindmarsh,” Senator Simon Birmingham said today. “Just two weeks ago The Advertiser proclaimed ‘Libs’ vote secures Murray Victory’ following the Liberal Party’s announcement of support for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. “Yet…
DetailsJay Weatherill and the South Australian Government have extraordinarily passed on the opportunity to explain the benefits of his Murray-Darling Basin deal with Julia Gillard to a Senate inquiry in Adelaide this morning. The Senate committee inquiry is taking evidence on two pieces of legislation* that relate to the much hyped announcement made…
DetailsThe Gillard Government’s reported new approach to recovering water for the Murray-Darling should be cautiously welcomed, but must be more than another headline grabbing promise without funding and other detail to support it, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. South Australians waking to a headline “Win for our River” will recall similar…
DetailsThe Gillard Government’s reported new approach to recovering water for the Murray-Darling should be cautiously welcomed, but must be more than another headline grabbing promise without funding and other detail to support it, Coalition Basin spokesman Simon Birmingham said today. South Australians waking to a headline “Win for our River” will recall similar…
DetailsSo little justification exists in support of a $20 million heritage grant that departmental officials still refuse to confirm even whether there was any application, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham said today. The absence of any documented rationale or request for the $20 million, provided to Museum Victoria for protection…
DetailsThe Coalition congratulates Senator Conroy and the Labor Government on the remarkable progress being made in the rollout of construction maps for the National Broadband Network (NBN). Appearing before a Senate Estimates Committee last night, Senator Conroy last night confirmed his determination to ensure construction maps covering 758,000 premises across Australia are released…
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