Today the Royal Commissioner will deliver his final report to His Excellency, the Governor of South Australia at 11am. The SA Greens back calls for the report to be released TODAY.
Quotes attributable to Tammy Franks, Greens MLC:
Premier Marshall must ensure the public has immediate access to this important report today. This is the first true test of his leadership for our State. South Australians fought too hard to secure the Murray Darling Basin Agreement for this report to be cut short or silenced. We have waited a year for answers and a way forward, and the public should not be kept waiting any longer.
However, whether we see the Royal Commission report released publicly today or after the next Marshall Cabinet meeting, the Greens will ensure that the Murray River is the first order of business when Parliament returns. That includes responding to the report and urgent consideration by State Parliament of extending the work of the Royal Commission as the Commissioner requested. To date the Marshall Government has snubbed that request. That snubbing is just not tenable.
The Commissioner asked for more time and adequate resources to do this job properly. It will be years before a Federal Royal Commission would report; we don’t have the luxury of that timeframe, we must continue the work this State started and work together for water security. $10,000 a day is a small price to pay for the truth we need to ensure our rivers run.
With each news report of the devastating impact that water theft, corruption, mismanagement, and lack of flows has on communities and on the environment, our Premier cannot afford to ignore what is happening to the lifeblood of our State. The MDB Royal Commission must be extended.
We are experiencing an environmental collapse in the Murray Darling Basin. With multiple fish kills, all eyes are once again back on the Murray and whether Premier Marshall will stand up for our State or go to water on the Murray in defence of his NSW and federal LNP party pals.
Last year the SA Parliament established a Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin and claims of water theft, corruption, and maladministration. Not a single party stood in the way then. We recognised then the urgency and importance of such an inquiry, and that hasn’t changed. If anything, it has intensified.