Barnaby Joyce’s first act as drought envoy is to attempt to tear apart the basis of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, the Greens say.

“Barnaby Joyce has used his first day on the job to go back to his old tricks – trying to rip water off of the environment,” Greens water spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“Barnaby Joyce should be turning to his corporate irrigator mates like Cubbie Station, who have been taking more than their share for too long while their neighbours suffer through this drought.

Australian Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has written to South Australian Water Minister David Speirs urging him to fight for the delivery of 450GL of water to the river system at the upcoming Murray Darling Basin Ministerial Council meeting in Canberra.

“Like so many other South Australians, I urge the State Government to fight for SA and fight for the River. It is up to the Minister to ensure the River is not short-changed on vital environmental flows,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Government must drop its plans to rip 605 billion litres out of environmental water from the southern Murray Darling Basin and focus on restoring health to the river, the Australian Greens say following harrowing reports of the dying Coorong.

“$8 billion has been spent on the Murray Darling Basin Plan and the Coorong is dying. The Government needs to take the blinkers off, wake up and realise the entire Basin, and the river communities who rely on it,  are at a tipping point,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Greens Leader Senator Richard Di Natale today said the Liberal government's failure to secure the votes needed to pass its Trump-like company tax cuts means they're dead in the water. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann confirmed in the Senate earlier this evening that they have only managed to secure 37 votes and that the legislation will not be brought before the Senate until later this year.  

"Malcolm Turnbull and his government's Trump-like company tax cuts are dead in the water," Senator Di Natale said.

The Australian Greens’ push to stop billions of litres of water from being stripped from the environment to feather the nests of greedy corporate irrigators has won the backing of Labor and some crossbench senators, passing the Senate tonight.

“We’ve cleared the first hurdle on the road to restoring the Murray Darling Basin Plan back to what it was meant to be; security for the river, and for the environment to get what it needs to survive,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Australian Greens Murray-Darling Basin spokesperson and Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young is urging her SA colleagues to hold firm on defending the River Murray amid news that the Labor Party is in talks with the Government over changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan that would reduce the amount of environmental water.

Today’s revelations that South Australia has been sold down the river about how much water it would lose if the Government’s change to the Murray Darling Basin Plan are further proof why the Plan should not be scaled back, The Australian Greens say.

“Big irrigators and upstream states are always claiming that South Australia is too far downstream for anything to matter – that’s just not true,” Greens Murray Darling Basin spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Innovation and Science statement dead in the water under an anti-science government: Bandt

Greens spokesperson for Science, Research & Innovation, Adam Bandt MP, today applauded the ambitious plan released by Innovation and Science Australia but said that trying to foster innovation under an anti-science, anti-education government is like politely asking Pauline Hanson to stop being a racist.