With his cuts Abbott is planning on turning the River Murray into an open sewer so thank God Labor built the Desal plant in SA.

Thanks neo cons..you've managed to finally kill the Murray River with a stroke of your pencils.

Don't worry, there is alway the option of 100s of white elephant dams that can store the polluted fracking water.

Mr Infrastructure can bucket it down with his green army. 

adelcrow wrote on Sep 5^th, 2013 at 6:06pm:

With his cuts Abbott is planning on turning the River Murray into an open sewer so thank God Labor built the Desal plant in SA. Thanks neo cons..you've managed to finally kill the Murray River with a stroke of your pencils.

do you even care at all about truth?  it would seem not.

bloody good work for the dole idea greens. all those canberra public servants can bucket the water from our dams to the murray.  might get rid of their soft hands

longweekend58 wrote on Sep 5^th, 2013 at 6:12pm:

adelcrow wrote on Sep 5th, 2013 at 6:06pm: With his cuts Abbott is planning on turning the River Murray into an open sewer so thank God Labor built the Desal plant in SA. Thanks neo cons..you've managed to finally kill the Murray River with a stroke of your pencils. do you even care at all about truth?  it would seem not.

Seems to work for you old man.

The Coalition will axe Labor's Regional Infrastructure Fund and delay some Murray-Darling water buybacks if it wins government.

The final Coalition costings, released by Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey and Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Robb, chop foreign aid spending by $4.5 billion over four years, allocating much of that funding to building urban freeways.

But regional roads to be upgraded with part of the funding include Queensland's Bruce Highway ($6.7 billion), Tasmania's Midland Highway ($400 million), the Pacific Highway from Newcastle north to the Queensland border ($5.6 billion to complete duplication), as well as the Warrego Highway, the Toowoomba Range Crossing and the Great Ocean Road.

The Coalition estimates it will save $747 billion in land programs and compensation to businesses by scrapping the carbon tax. It will spend $1.55 billion by 2016-17 on its "direct action" plan to reduce carbon emissions.

Removing the mining tax also means scrapping programs that were to be funded by its proceeds.

The Regional Infrastructure Fund of $2.48 billion will go, affecting dozens of small projects right around Australia. Another $25 million will be taken out of the Building Better Regional Cities Program.

However, as the Coalition says some of the proposed projects will still be separately funded, it's difficult to assess the full impact of the policy.

Altogether, the Coalition has promised to spend an extra $140 million over four years on the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries portfolio, with $75 million for research.

Other spending that will benefit regions, mostly previously announced, includes $75 million to reduce mobile phone blackspots, $74 million on a Plan To Grow Tasmania and $300 million for the Green Army.

But an unexpected savings announcement is a "rephasing" of the Murray-Darling Water Buyback Scheme to spread four years' worth of buybacks over six years. This is estimated to save the government $650 million.

In 2014-15 planned spending on buybacks will be reduced by $174 million, with reductions of $210 million and $240 million in the following financial years.

Simon Birmingham, the shadow parliamentary secretary for the Murray-Darling Basin, has defended the Coalition's plans to slow spending on the water buyback scheme.

"The Coalition has said for a long time that we will reprioritise spending towards infrastructure ahead of buybacks, and that's because we want to get water the smart way where you keep farmers on their farms, make them more efficient, get wins for the environment, but still have farmers growing food in Australia for Australians."

Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Coalition has "trashed" the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Greens Senator and water spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young says the change to water buybacks is a blow for South Australia.

"I think it is absolutely despicable that the Coalition has hidden this until less than 48 hours until polling day," she said.

"This is South Australia's lifeblood, this is South Australia's biggest issue, water. We're the driest state, we're at the bottom of the system."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-05/nrn-coalition-cuts/4938308

____ wrote on Sep 5^th, 2013 at 6:33pm:

The Coalition will axe Labor's Regional Infrastructure Fund and delay some Murray-Darling water buybacks if it wins government. The final Coalition costings, released by Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey and Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Robb, chop foreign aid spending by $4.5 billion over four years, allocating much of that funding to building urban freeways. But regional roads to be upgraded with part of the funding include Queensland's Bruce Highway ($6.7 billion), Tasmania's Midland Highway ($400 million), the Pacific Highway from Newcastle north to the Queensland border ($5.6 billion to complete duplication), as well as the Warrego Highway, the Toowoomba Range Crossing and the Great Ocean Road. The Coalition estimates it will save $747 billion in land programs and compensation to businesses by scrapping the carbon tax. It will spend $1.55 billion by 2016-17 on its "direct action" plan to reduce carbon emissions. Removing the mining tax also means scrapping programs that were to be funded by its proceeds. The Regional Infrastructure Fund of $2.48 billion will go, affecting dozens of small projects right around Australia. Another $25 million will be taken out of the Building Better Regional Cities Program. However, as the Coalition says some of the proposed projects will still be separately funded, it's difficult to assess the full impact of the policy. Altogether, the Coalition has promised to spend an extra $140 million over four years on the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries portfolio, with $75 million for research. Other spending that will benefit regions, mostly previously announced, includes $75 million to reduce mobile phone blackspots, $74 million on a Plan To Grow Tasmania and $300 million for the Green Army. But an unexpected savings announcement is a "rephasing" of the Murray-Darling Water Buyback Scheme to spread four years' worth of buybacks over six years. This is estimated to save the government $650 million. In 2014-15 planned spending on buybacks will be reduced by $174 million, with reductions of $210 million and $240 million in the following financial years. Simon Birmingham, the shadow parliamentary secretary for the Murray-Darling Basin, has defended the Coalition's plans to slow spending on the water buyback scheme. "The Coalition has said for a long time that we will reprioritise spending towards infrastructure ahead of buybacks, and that's because we want to get water the smart way where you keep farmers on their farms, make them more efficient, get wins for the environment, but still have farmers growing food in Australia for Australians." Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Coalition has "trashed" the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Greens Senator and water spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young says the change to water buybacks is a blow for South Australia. "I think it is absolutely despicable that the Coalition has hidden this until less than 48 hours until polling day," she said. "This is South Australia's lifeblood, this is South Australia's biggest issue, water. We're the driest state, we're at the bottom of the system." http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-05/nrn-coalition-cuts/4938308

the water buybacks were an unmitigated disaster.  by and large labor bought water licences that weren't being used and paid between 2 and 4 times their worth.  IN other words, it added literally not one drop to the flows.

only labor could be so dumb.

Well if there any reason to vote Greens and Xenaphon in SA its now.