That effin b@stard Tony Burke!

Federal Water Minister Tony Burke thinks he's playing cute by not ruling out damming the Clarence River and piping water across the Great Dividing Range into the Murray Darling Basin.
Does he really think that the Clarence Valley mob are so stupid that they don't know he'd pander to the Independents on just about anything if it meant that Labor could stay on top of the muck heap?
It's as plain as a pikestaff that wannabe water vandal Tony Windsor is going after NSW coastal rivers and that the Clarence heads his wish list.
This is going to be a trying time for the Labor Member for Page Janelle Saffin as she pits herself against the big boys in her party and vested interests in the Basin.
As for the Coalition - even though they probably hold the most federal seats along the Murray Darling they can sit back and let Windsor and the irrigators do all the political biting and tearing at the Gillard Government without having to show their hand until the House votes on the final version of the Basin Plan.

Journalist Rodney Stevens writing in The Daily Examiner on 16th of October:
"FEDERAL Water Minister Tony Burke has not ruled out diverting Clarence River water as a solution to irrigation problems in the Murray Darling basin.
Facing severe backlash from irate farmers about the proposed reduction in irrigation allocations at public consultation meetings held by the Murray Darling Basin Authority this week, Mr Burke said he would not discount any options as solutions to help revive Australia's 'food bowl'.
"The consultation is real and I'm not going to play the game of ruling things in or out," he said.
"Lots of options will be put on the table in the next few months and I don't want people to hesitate from putting ideas on the table."
Mr Burke hinted the enormousness of the engineering involved in a diversion may save the Clarence River.
"Certainly in the past, projects like this have not been considered as practical as other options," he said.
Outraged at the suggestion of any potential for diversion by Minister Burke, Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin said she would fight to see that the Clarence remained untouched.
"I will stand by my community. Not one drop goes from the Clarence," she said.
Ms Saffin said she would be raising the issue of any potential diversion in parliament next week.
"They can all rack off. I will make that clear next week," she said."