2018-06-14
The Australian Greens have slammed the Liberal Government and Murray Darling Basin Authority for attempting to corrupt the South Australian Royal Commission by trying to stop officials from giving evidence, and hiding from the people of Mayo during an intense by-election campaign.
“This is an appalling act of secrecy that shows the Government and the Murray Darling Basin Authority have something to hide. Applying to the High Court to seek an injunction to prevent officials from giving evidence at the South Australian Royal Commission is not how you restore public confidence in the Plan,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“We know there has been corruption, water theft, and for those of us at the bottom end of the river, we know that the environment is not getting the water it needs. This does nothing to restore trust with River communities, or faith in the Murray Darling Basin Plan. The people of Mayo will be fuming at this latest attempt from the Liberal Government to sweep the issues with the Murray Darling Basin Plan under the rug.
“The Government and the Murray Darling Basin Authority are favouring secrecy over transparency when it comes to their mismanagement of the Murray Darling Basin Plan. Their protection racket has got to be busted open. Banks don’t get to just ‘opt out’ of appearing before the Banking Royal Commission. It doesn’t fly that the MDBA and the Government are standing in the way of the truth coming out and moving forward on repairing the broken trust in river communities.
“Between cracking down on staff emails because the MDBA doesn’t believe the public has a right to know what is going on within the organisation, and now applying to the High Court to avoid officials giving evidence at the Royal Commission, it is clear it has a problem with transparency.
“This move delivers another blow to Georgina Downer and her hopes of winning the seat of Mayo – dealt by her own party. If the people of Mayo want someone who will truly stand up for the River, for transparency, and for the environment, the only choice is Green.”