Thread: Keeping tabs on Australia"s newly elected Government

Gas before nuclear 'thought bubble' as coal reign ends

Federal opposition plans to roll out nuclear energy have been dismissed as a thought bubble as the nation races to replace coal power.

Alternatives to the fossil fuel - which still powers much of the grid in NSW, Victoria and Queensland - are being rapidly rolled out with coal's reign "swiftly ending," according to electricity company bosses.

Proposals to increase natural gas supplies for the nation's most populous state are being assessed and welcomed as renewable projects come online, NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe says.

"We don't want to see price spikes and we don't want to see uncertainty for industry," she told a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event on Tuesday.

A tight balance between supply and demand was a "new normal" NSW did not like.

More gas-powered plants would be needed to cope with peak demand during the transition to renewable energy sources, she said.

"More and more renewable energy is entering the system, but it's always happening more slowly than we would like," Ms Sharpe said.

The state Labor minister said she was "unimpressed" by a proposal from the federal coalition to roll out nuclear power stations.

The plan posed too many important but unanswered questions and threatened to smash a hole in the certainty provided by the state's energy strategy, she said.

"NSW will not be risking our future economic prosperity for a policy thought bubble designed to play politics," Ms Sharpe said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton unveiled plans in June to build seven government-owned nuclear power plants across five states if the coalition wins the next federal election.

Nuclear bans are in place in most states and territories, measures that would need to be overturned or circumvented before the rollout could take place.

The chief executive of Australia's largest energy generator and greenhouse-gas emitter reaffirmed nuclear power was not part of the company's future.

AGL's Damien Nicks told the same event the electricity supplier focused on renewable generation and storage.

"AGL's generation portfolio will look completely different by 2035, when we're no longer generating electricity from coal," he said.

Transgrid chief executive Brett Redman, whose company operates NSW and ACT transmission networks, commended the NSW government's May decision to extend the life of the nation's largest coal-fired power station at Eraring.

But he warned the move could not be repeated as energy systems were reconfigured.

"Further deferrals are neither physically nor commercially desirable given the investment necessary to keep the ageing assets operational," he said.

"The trajectory is clear: coal, long a stalwart of our energy generation, is swiftly ending.

"Simultaneously, our energy demand is skyrocketing."

The transmission network operator is building 2500km of new lines to carry an expected 17-gigawatt surge in renewable generation as more projects enter the grid.

Ms Sharpe on Tuesday announced the inaugural chair and seven commissioners for the state's Net Zero Commission.

The commission was created in December and will report to the government on its progress towards legislated emissions-reduction targets, including a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

Former NSW Treasury secretary Paul Grimes has been appointed chair, after joining the commonwealth's Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee in April.

NSW Net Zero Commission established just in time to advise on 19 coal mine expansions

Lock the Gate Alliance welcomes the official launch of the NSW Minns Government’s Net Zero Commission and the appointment of senior officials and experts to the organisation.

Georgina Woods, Head of Research and Investigations at LTGA, said, “The establishment of the Net Zero Commission comes just in the nick of time so its independent experts can provide frank and fearless advice to the government about the role planned coal mine expansions would play in driving up direct and downstream greenhouse gas emissions.

“We welcome the establishment of the commission and the independent expertise it will bring to the urgent and complex climate challenges facing New South Wales.

“Right now, there are 19 coal mine expansions undergoing assessment in NSW.

“Neither NSW nor the world can afford the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from these projects - which would equate to more than 17 times NSW's total annual emissions.

“Approving new coal projects now will have catastrophic consequences for the climate and NSW communities who are already suffering due to worsening extreme weather events.

“Any expansion in the coal mining sector is a blow to every other industry in NSW.

“Other sectors of the NSW economy will have to reduce emissions even faster while at the same time experiencing worsening climate impacts if the coal mining sector is allowed to expand dramatically.

“Global temperatures are rising steeply. Last month was the warmest June on record and the 13th straight month of record-breaking temperatures.

“Out of control global warming poses grave danger to the people of New South Wales. Bringing down greenhouse emissions is an urgent priority and that cannot happen if coal mining continues to expand.”

Climate activists block Woodside’s Burrup Hub

As climate protesters protested outside the headquarters of one of Australia’s biggest oil and gas producers Woodside on July 12, two others had blockaded the only access road to Burrup Hub Project in Pilbara region in the early morning.

The climate activists in the CBD wanted to show solidarity with workers who are set to lose their jobs due to the restructure at the corporation, as well as demanding that Woodside stop its push to expand its Browse Basin and Burrup Hub liquid natural gas operation.

At 4am, two activists blocked access to the only road into Woodside’s Burrup Hub. Student Emma and school teacher Petrina Harley chained themselves to concrete barrels inside an SUV and boat parked across Burrup Road.

Climate activists say Labor must step in to stop Woodside from destroying sacred Murujuga rock art. Woodside has form: it has already destroyed thousands of First Nations sites.

WA and federal Labor are currently considering applications for a 50-year extension to Woodside’s Burrup Hub project. If the project is allowed to go ahead it will emit 6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere until 2070.

Disrupt Burrup Hub is also concerned that the Browse gas field will threaten the fragile Scott Reef, the only nesting habitat for endangered sea turtles, and will interrupt whale migration routes.

Adani’s Queensland coalmine a threat to important wetland, Indigenous groups and scientists say

There is growing concern that a culturally significant and nationally important wetland is under threat from Adani’s controversial coalmine in Queensland, with an Indigenous group demanding the government investigate alleged breaches of the conditions that protect the site.

Scientists say drops in water levels in bores around the Doongmabulla Springs have been detected hundreds of times since mining started, and allege hydrocarbons associated with coal have been found in bores and the springs themselves.

Adani rejected the claims, saying the springs had not been damaged by the Carmichael coalmine, operated by Bravus – a subsidiary of the Indian-owned Adani Group – and the company was fully compliant with environmental conditions.

The springs, located mostly on a nature refuge, are a nationally important wetland and a culturally important site for Wangan and Jagalingou people, and their protection was a condition of the project’s 2016 federal approval by the then environment minister, Greg Hunt.

In a letter sent this week to the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and seen by Guardian Australia, the Wangan and Jagalingou man Adrian Burragubba wrote the minister should investigate concerns primarily around the health of the springs, the levels of groundwater and the models used to predict how mining might affect the site’s underground water.

Burragubba, who has long campaigned against the mine, said the springs, lagoon and a nearby ochre deposit were a sacred place for Indigenous ceremonies.

“We go to reconnect with our ancestors and to hand on the stories of how we began,” he said. “The [state] government’s job is to make sure our human rights are not limited.”

Burragubba’s Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians group is in Queensland’s supreme court trying to force the state government to act on their warnings about risks to the springs. Part of the push for a judicial review argues the group’s human rights are being restricted.

The group says it wrote to the state government in November last year outlining the findings of reports from two scientists it had commissioned, as well as a report from CSIRO.

One of those scientists, Prof Matthew Currell, a hydrogeologist and groundwater expert at Griffith University who is involved in ongoing research into the health of the springs, wrote there had been “marked increases” in detections of hydrocarbons in bore water sampling since mining started.

Currell told the Guardian the springs had been in existence for thousands, if not millions, of years but alleged that now “hundreds of instances” where the levels of groundwater and the water quality had exceeded trigger values.

“The concern is that the Carmichael mine is only 10 kilometres from the springs and they have been pumping significant volumes of groundwater.

“I believe the springs are still in good health, but the levels occurring in bores between the mine and the springs have seen them going below the triggers. That’s a warning sign that we might not have too long. It’s a matter of time before we see impacts on the springs themselves.”

He alleged hydrocarbons often associated with coal had been detected in bores and in the springs.

“That points to a potential impact from mining and it needs to be urgently explained,” he said.

A 2023 CSIRO review of the mine’s groundwater modelling and reporting said “confidence in the range of predicted impacts is low” and the company’s groundwater modelling report failed to comply with one of the conditions of its state environmental approval.

Questions to Plibersek’s office were forwarded to the environment department, where a spokesperson said: “The department is aware of the matter and is making inquiries.”

But a statement from Bravus said the company “wholly rejects the incorrect claims” of the scientists and said no damage had occurred to the springs. The mine was fully compliant with all state and federal obligations, it added.

“Our groundwater program uses highly sensitive early warning triggers to detect small changes in groundwater levels that are then investigated. These triggers are not exceedances, and none have been related to mining activity.

“Mischievous claims of hydrocarbons in the springs are false. Any trace elements detected are due to tiny amounts of drilling lubricants from when the monitoring borehole was dug. This is the same process used to drill any domestic water bore and it is not harmful to the environment.”

In a stement the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation said groundwater drawdown thresholds acted as an early warning system and that there was “no evidence that mining activities are impacting the Doongmabulla Springs Complex at this time.”

The department had reviewed Adani’s reports from each groundwater trigger incident and those reports “confirm it has not been caused by mining, but rather by dry seasonal conditions, landholder pumping nearby, or natural variation.”

The department had filed an application to stay or dismiss the judicial review application over the department’s decision not to exercise power under the Environmental Protection Act 1994.

But the statement said the department had in March 2023 issued an order preventing Adani from starting underground mining until the company had filed a second groundwater report, after the first was “rejected because DESI has low confidence in the predictions made in the report.”

Adani has appealed that order, the statement said, but the company had agreed to install more monitoring bores and do more groundwater modelling work “to identify any short-term drawdown impacts”.

Climate plans of Australian companies would be exempt from private litigation for three years under proposal

Bill praised for targeting corporate climate responsibility but lawyers say it could allow polluters to avoid public scrutiny for longer

The climate plans of Australian companies would be immune to private litigation for three years under an Albanese government proposal before parliament.

The grace period is included in legislation before the Senate that would expand the information companies must provide about the risk the climate crisis poses to their business and what they will do about it.

The bill has been praised as a necessary step in improving corporate climate disclosure and accountability, but lawyers and shareholder activists are concerned that polluting companies accused of greenwashing could avoid public scrutiny – and investors could be denied information about companies – for an extended period.

The draft legislation says some types of statements by companies, directors and auditors would be protected from legal challenge during a phase-in period unless the business was accused of criminal behaviour or an action brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic).

Law firm Equity Generation said the laws would have almost certainly prevented cases that successfully challenged the Commonwealth Bank and NAB over funding fossil fuel projects. The bill could also have stopped a “world-first” challenge to Rest Super over its duty to consider the climate crisis when making investments.

David Barnden, Equity Generation’s principal lawyer, said the proposed immunity – which applies to company statements about climate scenario analysis, transition plans and “scope 3” emissions released by customers when they use the company’s products – would “remove a critical avenue for investors to ensure market integrity”.

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, a shareholder advocacy organisation, said “an extended enforcement holiday” from existing accountability would reduce motivation for companies to take mandatory climate disclosure requirements seriously.

Its executive director, Brynn O’Brien, said she was particularly concerned the immunity period would affect the information disclosed by big heavy emitters that already release climate transition plans in line with the recommendations from the global taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures.

“[The centre’s] case that challenges statements made by oil and gas company Santos, for example, could not be brought by a shareholder for three years under the draft legislation,” O’Brien said. “It is an inappropriate burden to place the sole responsibility of enforcing these provisions on under-resourced regulators for such a prolonged period.”

Mayleah House, of boutique fund manager Ethical Partners, said the immunity period would undermine shareholder rights and corporate responsibility. She said directors had adequate protection under existing misleading and deceptive conduct laws.

“Companies that have had the foresight to see what’s coming down the track should be – and are – prepared for disclosures,” House said.

The Greens have proposed an amendment to reduce the three-year immunity period to one year.

The party’s spokesperson for economic justice and Treasury, Nick McKim, said Labor’s mandatory disclosure legislation was “an important part of pushing money out of coal and gas and into the clean investments we need for a safe future”, but “a three-year holiday given to the biggest corporations is too generous”.

“Asic hardly has a reputation as a tough corporate cop on the beat, so we hope the government supports the Greens’ amendments in the Senate to rein in the disclosure immunity back to one year and narrow its scope,” he said.

The mandatory disclosure proposal is based on the work of the International Sustainability Standards Board. A spokesperson for the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said the government was “taking action on climate reporting to unlock more investment in cheaper and cleaner energy and help companies and investors manage climate risks”.

“We’re doing this in a responsible way that ensures we incentivise more investment as quickly as possible without the risk of penalising businesses that are trying to do the right thing,” he said.

The Coalition has said the mandatory reporting regime would increase costs on business, particularly small and medium-sized operators, describing it as “more red and green tape”.

If passed, the new regime would start on 1 January.

Matt Kean tells clean energy industry to speak out against vested interests ‘undermining the transition’

Former NSW Liberal minister calls on renewables sector to ‘put your mouth where your money is’ in first speech as incoming Climate Change Authority chair

The incoming Climate Change Authority chair Matt Kean has issued a call to arms for the clean energy industry to “enter the arena” and push back against vested interests seeking to erode public confidence in renewable energy.

Kean, a former energy minister in New South Wales and Liberal MP for another three weeks, told the Australian Clean Energy Summit 2024 in Sydney the industry had the science and the financial heft to counter the “propaganda” of vested fossil fuel interests.

“Those whose interest is maintaining the status quo and their own super profits and self-interest at the expense of Australian families and the national interest are hard at work undermining the transition,” Kean told the event in his first major speech since being appointed authority head by the Albanese government last month.

“While many here remain silent and hopeful, they are loud and determined,” Kean said, according to a copy of speech. “It is time for many of you in this room to put your mouth where your money is.”

“The facts, the benefits, and the positive outcomes are on your side,” he said. “It’s time for you to enter the debate and argue for Australia.”

Approval and construction delays have slowed the development and connection of large-scale wind and solar plants and the transmission lines needed to supply the low-cost energy to customers. Costs also increased in the process.

The Australian Energy Market Operator used last month’s launch of its biennial blueprint to warn the pace of renewables must double the present pace to 6GW a year to meet decarbonisation goals and fill the gap as ageing coal plants shut.

Kean’s comments echoed those of Kane Thornton, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, which organised the event. Thornton opened Tuesday’s gathering by warning of “bad faith actors”.

These were using “a weakened media [to prey] on communities increasingly anxious about the uncertainty and tensions in the world around us to tear things down”, Thornton said. Those with fossil fuel interests were “stepping up to tell their story and peppering it with myths, truths, and outright disinformation” to stall renewables.

“The battering ram, of course, is nuclear power,” Thornton said, referring to the federal opposition’s pledge to introduce seven nuclear plants after the mid-2030s.

Kean, who will take up the authority role on 5 August, did not mention nuclear energy. Asked about the energy source at a media conference in Canberra to mark his appointment last month, Kean said the advice given to him as NSW energy minister was that nuclear energy would be too expensive and take too long to build.

“I didn’t want to bankrupt the state.’ he said at the time. “And I didn’t want to put those huge costs on to families.”

In Tuesday’s speech, Kean said Australia should learn from Europe’s efforts to accelerate renewables to wean the region off oil and gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“It reinforced the need to replace unreliable coal-power power stations and a dependence on foreign energy sources,” he said. “[Approvals were] now simpler, faster and more cost effective – and reflect the broader strategic interests involved in combating climate change.”

“Too many projects are being forced to run a tortuous path to approval, bouncing between federal and state and sometimes local approval regimes … dragging on for years, when time is of the essence,” Kean said.

Governments should work towards “a new set of guiding principles” to ensure policymakers and regulators had “a laser-like focus on what can be done to approve projects, rather than the fine print that can be used to stop them,” he said.

“The urgent need for the delivery of new, clean energy supply should serve as a call to arms.”

Australia’s big banks lent $3.6bn to fossil fuel expansion projects in 2023, report shows

Lending puts banks in ‘complete violation’ of commitments to Paris agreement, climate group says, even as overall funding to sector ebbs

Australia’s big four banks are in “complete violation” of commitments to the Paris climate accord by funding fossil fuel expansion even as their overall lending to the sector continues to ebb, according to a new report.

The climate activist group Market Forces said in the report that the banks lent the industry $3.6bn in 2023, bringing their total loans to more than $61bn since 2015. Last year, though, was first year in the past eight that banks avoided explicitly backing a new or expanded fossil fuel project.

Of the big four, ANZ has lent the most to the sector with its total exposure topping $20bn in early 2024. NAB was the largest lender in 2023 with $1.4bn advanced.

CBA offered the least last year with $271m in finance but Market Forces said it is lending to the APA Group that is planning pipelines for the Beetaloo gas project, which has been labelled a “carbon bomb”. Westpac had the smallest fossil-fuel financing during 2016-23 at about $10bn but had lately stepped up support for gas projects in Asia along with the ANZ.

“Whilst the general trend that fossil fuel lending is coming down is certainly pleasing, it’s really concerning to see funding is still going to companies with fossil fuel expansion plans,” Kyle Robertson, a Market Forces analyst and report author, said. Such activity was “just a complete violation of their commitments to Paris, and it’s something that needs to change rapidly”.

Global temperatures in June capped 12 consecutive months at 1.5C above preindustrial levels, the lower end of the 1.5C-2C Paris climate limit.

While that near-term rise was enhanced by an El Niño event in the past year, the warming trend indicated the remaining carbon budget to ensure temperatures remained sustainably within the Paris target was “running out”, BP said last week in its 2024 energy outlook.

One change since 2015 has been a drop in support for financing coal among Australia’s biggest banks. For instance, Whitehaven, Australia’s largest “pure play” thermal coalminer, was last year refused refinancing for a $1bn loan by NAB and Westpac in what Robertson described as “an encouraging development”.

“I think you can say that the thermal coal industry is firmly on its way out,” he said. “Banks around the world are generally trending away from it and financing coal less and less, but with that comes an increasing concern around the role of gas.”

Australian banks have been supporting the expansion of gas with loans to companies including Woodside and Santos for local projects and also ventures in gas-importing nations in Asia such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, Market Forces said.

The bank activity has tended to shift away from loans for specific projects to bond sales and also “general corporate finance”, the report said. “Over half of ANZ’s bond financing [in 2023] went to companies with coal, oil or gas expansion plans.”

Last year, about 38% of fossil fuel financing was in the form of bonds. “[Bonds] can be a way that [banks] can continue to fund these companies or arrange finance for these companies and keep them as clients even when they’re not showing up exactly on their books,” Robertson said.

About 98% of funding last year by the banks to the industry was “general corporate finance”, up from 60% to 70% previously.

The shift has “come off the back of the banks making a lot of exclusions on new and expanded fossil fuel projects that they’ve said they’ll no longer provide project finance for,” Robertson said. “As long as these companies are pursuing expansion of coal, oil and gas, it is propping them up, and it is enabling them to pursue those projects.”

Robertson said Market Forces shared its data with the four banks.

An ANZ spokesperson said “while we have significant questions about the methodology of the report we are not surprised to be mentioned given we are the largest domestic lender to Australia’s energy sector”.

“It’s important to remember this is the most carbon-intensive part of our economy and financing its transition to net zero will require significant capital,” the spokesperson said.

“It’s important also to note that our financed emissions included in our emissions reduction pathways for the power generation, oil and gas and thermal coal sectors have reduced by 25%, 30% and 96% respectively, between 2020 and 2023.”

Guardian Australia also approached the other three banks for comment.

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Extra

SunCable receives environmental approval for massive solar project

SunCable's project to develop "the world's largest renewable energy precinct" in the remote Northern Territory has received crucial environmental approvals, but a final investment decision on the $30 billion-plus project is not expected until 2027.

The company plans to build a 10 gigawatt, 12,400-hectare solar farm near Elliott and transport electricity to Darwin via an 800-kilometre overhead transmission line, then on to Singapore through a subsea cable.

On Tuesday, the NT government approved the project, following recommendations from the NT Environment Protection Authority (NTEPA).

"The principal environmental approval is a huge milestone for the project," SunCable NT regional director Jett Street said.

"It enables the project to progress with the different development activities that will take it to a final investment decision in 2027."

NT Environment Minister Kate Worden said the project had "been through a rigorous environmental approval process".

"The SunCable project … will be a great asset to the Territory as we move towards a renewable energy future," Ms Worden said in a statement.

"This project will deliver thousands of jobs for Territorians and harness one of our greatest assets — the abundance of sunshine."

The project is expected to create 1,750 jobs during construction and 350 jobs ongoing over its 70-year operational life, with SunCable claiming it could generate $20 billion in economic value to the NT.

SunCable was taken over by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes in May 2023, after falling out with former project partner Andrew Forrest.

More approvals needed

SunCable still needs to negotiate Indigenous Land Use Agreements with a number of different traditional owner groups along the transmission line route to Darwin.

The Northern Land Council said it was supporting traditional owners to deal with SunCable.

"Without going into confidential matters, those negotiations are ongoing," the spokesperson said.

SunCable is also investigating adding wind generation to the project and developing a second generation site to supply up to four gigawatts of electricity to Darwin.

The company is also looking at how to supply electricity to green energy customers in the controversial Middle Arm industrial precinct.

Ms Street rejected criticisms that SunCable's energy could be used to greenwash projects at the industrial site near Darwin.

"This is an opportunity for the Northern Territory to be at the forefront of the global energy transition," Ms Street said.

"The projects that we'll be supplying at Middle Arm are new industries that are critical to reach the decarbonisation and climate change objectives of the world."

SunCable said the project could help underpin "a new wave of green industrial development in the NT, via prospective projects that include green minerals, hydrogen, e-fuels, and data centres."

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Little more……

NSW government says state’s biodiversity ‘in crisis’ as it pledges first steps to reverse decline

The New South Wales government says the state’s biodiversity is in crisis and must be put on a path to recovery to reverse the decline of beloved species and ecosystems.

The environment minister, Penny Sharpe, has released the government’s “first steps” in responding to a major review of the state’s nature laws, saying: “We cannot ignore the truth: biodiversity in NSW is in crisis.”

The Minns government is proposing to develop a new nature strategy that would be enshrined in law and set targets for conservation and restoration, including landscape restoration, species recovery and addressing threats to nature.

Sharpe said the government would also amend state laws by the end of this year to fulfil its promise to reform NSW’s biodiversity offsets scheme after a 2021 Guardian Australia investigation uncovered serious problems that triggered several inquiries.

“Our goal must be to leave nature better off than we have found it.”

Sharpe said the response, which fully or partially accepts 49 out of 58 recommendations from the 2023 review led by the former treasury secretary Ken Henry, set out immediate priorities and “is the start of concerted action, reform, investment”.

Henry’s review found the state’s environment laws would not succeed without substantial changes and warned that half of the species under threat in NSW were on course to become extinct within the next 100 years.

After the review was released last year, he called for the natural environment to be made the top priority in government policy and legislation.

Henry told Guardian Australia on Tuesday that the government’s response was a “serious attempt” to tackle the problems identified in his review and demonstrated it understood the scale of the nature crisis.

But he said many of the government’s proposed actions would take a long time to deliver and they stopped short of putting laws that protected and enhanced nature ahead of other land management concerns.

“They’re not giving it statutory primacy,” he said. “They seem to want to tackle it in a different way.”

The Minns government’s response proposes several measures to be implemented over time, including:

Introducing legislation next year to enshrine a new state nature strategy with conservation and restoration targets; Amending laws this year to reform the state’s offsets scheme; Developing maps that identify current and future areas of high biodiversity value to give “clear guidance” on where environmental impacts should be avoided; Reviewing other pieces of legislation that affect biodiversity to improve outcomes for the environment.


Among the proposed measures intended to fix the state’s environmental offsets scheme, the government is proposing that the current standard that calls for “no net loss” to the environment be transitioned to a requirement that the scheme delivers a “net positive”.

The government said it was “committed to offsets being a genuine last resort” and it would introduce a new statutory standard requiring developers to demonstrate how they had genuinely avoided and minimised impacts to biodiversity, particularly for species and ecosystems at risk of irreversible impacts.

Ag ministers raise 'serious' concern over nuclear plans

Farmers deserve answers on how the federal coalition’s nuclear energy plan could impact food production, with Australia’s agriculture ministers joining forces to raise concern.

Ministers from every state and territory affected by the opposition’s nuclear proposal released a joint statement on Thursday, saying they had a duty to protect the future of the agriculture industry.

“We have serious concerns that this duty would be compromised by the federal opposition’s proposal for nuclear power in and around prime agricultural land,” it said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced the nuclear strategy a month ago, flagging reactors at coal power station sites in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

More than 11,000 farms would be within an 80km radius of the seven earmarked sites, according to a analysis released by the federal government.

Under international standards, that radius is classified as an “ingestion exposure pathway” in which people may be left vulnerable to radiation through contaminated food, milk and water in the event of a nuclear accident.

US farmers in those zones are obliged to take on preventative measures during an emergency, such as providing livestock with separate feed and water, holding shipments and decontaminating produce.

Leaks have been detected in groundwater at 37 out of 54 nuclear sites in the US since 1979, though the radioactive material dissipates quickly and is rarely found outside reactor boundaries, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report.

Australia’s agriculture ministers called on the coalition to explain to farmers how its nuclear vision would sit alongside the sector.

“It’s about time the federal opposition provided some answers … about where the water will come from,” Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said ahead of a meeting of the group in Brisbane on Thursday.

“What would happen in the event of a nuclear accident? And what preparations (would) they be making to prepare for such an event?”

When Senator Watt made similar comments during an address to the Global Food Forum on Wednesday, Nationals leader David Littleproud accused Labor of scaremongering and hypocrisy.

The coalition’s policy is to use existing entitlements from the coal power plants so water would not be taken from agriculture or communities, Mr Littleproud said.

“For him to talk about water security after this Labor government changed the Murray Darling Basin Plan to include water buybacks, as well as scrapping several new dam projects is hypocrisy of the highest order.”

Mr Watt denied using scare tactics, saying answers were needed about the cost of nuclear energy and its implications.

The ministerial gathering in Brisbane also discussed national priorities including fire ants, the wine industry, the sector’s workforce, sustainability and drought.

Chief Veterinary Officer Beth Cookson was also to brief them on bird flu, both the H7 strain affecting the poultry industry and the risk of the more serious H5 strain.

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Senator Murray Watt - Today, I signed a joint statement with every State Agriculture Minister where Peter Dutton plans to build nuclear reactors, expressing serious concern about the potential impact of his plan on local agriculture. Here are some questions he needs to answer for our farmers.: https://x.com/MurrayWatt/status/1813848893677007122

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Business and farming groups say 2030 emissions target ‘critical for investments’ after Dutton ditches policy

Major business and farming groups say Australia’s existing 2030 climate targets are “critical” and have warned against chopping and changing energy policy, in a shot across the bows of the Coalition.

On Thursday 18 organisations – including some closely aligned with the Coalition’s core constituencies – issued a joint statement saying investors required a “certain, credible and consistent policy framework”.

The Coalition has refused to commit to Australia’s existing target of cutting emissions by 43% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels, despite the Paris climate accord saying that countries must not backtrack on their commitments.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has also sought to raise the alarm about the government’s yet-to-be-set target for 2035 and has instead promised to embrace nuclear power as a longer-term solution.

But the Australian Industry Group, the National Farmers’ Federation and the Property Council of Australia were among the groups to issue the statement backing Australia’s current integrated system plan as “the best roadmap we have for the national electricity market”.

“Australia’s existing national emissions and energy targets for 2030 are critical foundations for the investments we need to deliver reliable, affordable and clean energy,” they said in the statement.

“Achieving them and the deeper targets that must follow on the road to net zero will take further and sustained effort.”

The Australian Energy Council, Energy Networks Australia and the Energy Users’ Association of Australia also backed the statement.

They all said governments, regulators and stakeholders must all commit to “a credible and consistent energy framework” in order to “attract finance at the lowest cost of capital and enable all our sectors to efficiently plan, resource and deliver just and timely transition to net zero emissions”.

The 18 organisations, including the Investor Group on Climate Change, said planning for Australia’s energy future “needs to be evidence-based, transparent and founded in wide consultation”.

They cited “robust evidence that Australia requires more renewable energy at all scales, a cost efficient mix of firming resources, growing and well-coordinated consumer energy resources, more efficient buildings, and stronger smarter transmission and distribution networks to connect it all up”.

The groups called for “urgent heavy lifting this decade to upgrade and extend our electricity systems”.

“Thermal power stations are retiring soon and power demand will grow with the electrification of more industries, cars and buildings.”

Those involved in organising the statement said it was another important sign of the breadth of business and community support for achieving Australia’s energy and climate goals.

It united environment and welfare groups – such as the Australian Conservation Foundation, WWF-Australia, Environment Victoria and the Australian Council of Social Service – with a range of industry organisations.

They include the Australian Aluminium Council, Cement Industry Federation and the Australian Steel Institute.

Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council

July 19^th 2024

The Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council (ECMC) met in Melbourne, on the lands of the Wurundjeri people, to progress reforms that better support energy consumers; recognise the path for First Nations Australians and local communities to benefit from the clean energy transformation; and deliver lasting positive change for consumers, workers and industries while working towards a collective commitment to reach net zero.

Ministers remain focused on reducing the cost of living, reaffirming their commitment to ensuring Australians have greater access to the lowest cost form of energy, renewable energy. Ministers noted existing Commonwealth and State energy bill relief measures and agreed to progress a sweeping package of consumer reforms that will help households access cheaper energy deals, increase support for people experiencing hardship, and deliver more protections for consumers. These reforms reduce confusion over tariff structures, barriers for households to switch to better priced plans, and embed changes that will keep saving consumers money into the future, Ministers also welcomed the direction of the Australian Energy Market Commissioner’s (AEMC’s) work on enhancing consumer protections on bill pricing following the rollout of smart meters in the National Electricity Market (NEM) including on prohibiting retailers from automatically switching customers onto time of use tariffs when a smart meter is installed.

Ministers endorsed the National Consumer Energy Resources (CER) Roadmap, with specific measures, timelines, and a national Implementation Plan to deliver equity in the transition and a coordinated vision for household solar and batteries, and other forms of CER. The CER Roadmap outlines how governments will work to enable CER’s vast potential to lower bills, improve reliability and cut network costs by reducing the need for grid-scale investment. The plan is a first step to enable billions of dollars in savings and benefits, as well as new consumer protections, network reforms that will allow consumers to export more solar power to the grid, nationally consistent standards in key areas, including to enable vehicle to grid technologies, and a commitment to a national regulatory framework for CER standards. Ministers recognised the importance of community buy-in to the goals of the roadmap and the need to support consumer energy literacy so that consumers can maximise the benefits of CER. Future work will be required to unlock coordinated CER at scale and support the transition.

Across the nation various concessions are offered to eligible citizens to assist them with their energy costs, however they often require consumers to make application through their retailer leading to large gaps in uptake. Ministers asked Senior Officials to work with Services Australia on options for supporting Commonwealth concession card holders to access state-based energy rebates.

Ministers reaffirmed their collective commitment to achieving emissions reductions in line with national and jurisdictional targets and discussed progress on development of the Commonwealth’s Net Zero Sector Plans. They welcomed the substantial engagement undertaken to date between jurisdictions and emphasised the importance of aligning Commonwealth, State and Territory policies and programs to implement the Sector Plans. Ministers focused on the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan, which will set out a transformation pathway for the energy system to deliver low-cost reliable renewable energy, support the needs of new industries under the Future Made in Australia agenda, and enable emissions reduction across the broader economy.

Ministers also welcomed updates on the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) following the first CIS auctions NEM-wide in May, and the imminent auction in the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) in July 2024. They also welcomed updates on initiatives under the Future Made in Australia (FMIA) plan, including for green hydrogen, clean energy technology manufacturing, low carbon liquid fuels and sustainable aviation fuels, the National Hydrogen Strategy, and the Guarantee of Origin.

Ministers discussed the importance of removing constraints on investment and the transition to low-cost renewable energy, including improving the connection process for new renewable energy generation and storage into electricity grids; workforce; supply chains; and strong engagement with First Nations Australians and communities. They focused on recent Commonwealth and state initiatives to improve the efficiency of planning and environmental approval processes. They also endorsed collaborative work on developing a National Priority list of renewable energy projects to drive prioritization of projects for timely consideration of relevant approvals processes. Ministers also recognised that workers are central to delivering Australia’s low emissions future and noted an update on the National Energy Workforce Strategy.

Australia’s energy transformation offers a generational opportunity to bring legacy social and economic benefits to the regions, locals and First Nations communities who host the new infrastructure, that must not be wasted.

Ministers agreed their response to the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner’s Community Engagement Review, published in February 2024. The response outlines how all jurisdictions will address the review’s recommendations to build and maintain community support for social licence for the clean energy transformation, and increase landholder and community support for energy infrastructure. The response considers and highlights the broad range of initiatives already being progressed by the Commonwealth, States and Territories, and through the National Energy Transformation Partnership, and how these can be built on to further enhance community outcomes and engagement on renewable energy and transmission infrastructure projects.

Ministers also agreed to release national guidelines for community engagement for transmission infrastructure. Work began on these guidelines in 2023 to build a nationally consistent best practice approach to community engagement by transmission developers. The guidelines have been developed through extensive consultation with community groups, energy market bodies, industry groups and First Nations organisations, and set principles that underpin more equitable sharing in benefits for communities from the build out of new transmission infrastructure.

Ministers welcomed an update on the First Nations Clean Energy Strategy, which continues to be a key priority for all Ministers. They thanked the First Nations Clean Energy Advisory Committee for their guidance on the development of the Strategy and look forward to their advice in the implementation phase. The Strategy aims to deliver self-determined opportunities for social and economic benefits to First Nations people, resource equitable partnerships, and power First Nations communities with clean energy. The strategy recognises the unique contexts of each jurisdiction and has been developed with feedback from 1,200 stakeholder consultations. Energy Ministers endorsed the Strategy framework and noted that an implementation plan will be co-developed and presented for consideration at the December meeting. The Strategy will be released before the end of 2024.

Ministers agreed to a national statement of intent for regional and remote EV charging infrastructure. The statement of intent recognises the unique circumstances of regional and remote areas and demonstrates governments’ commitment to work together to achieve effective planning, coordination and delivery of EV charging infrastructure nationally, to ensure that regional and remote populations have access to reliable EV charging, where practical. This is a crucial step in the rollout of charging infrastructure to enable long distance EV commuting or travel between hubs. The rollout of this charging infrastructure will be guided by the national EV public charging infrastructure map, which will be live by late 2024. Ministers also agreed updates to the minimum operating standards for government-supported public EV charging infrastructure.

Victorian Minister D’Ambrosio presented on Victoria’s integrated plan for an orderly energy transition, outlining Victoria’s key measures to improve transmission planning, develop offshore wind, electrify homes and businesses, and empower consumers as it reaches its 95% renewable energy target by 2035.

Ministers noted an update on a review of the market settings in the NEM to support firmed, renewable capacity and storage following the conclusion of CIS tenders. They also noted an update on the development of the Orderly Exit Management Framework (OEMF), with consultation on the exposure Bill and Rule closing on 24 July.

Ministers welcomed an update on Australia's first National Climate Risk Assessment and National Adaptation Plan, noting the severity of risks arising from climate change and the intent to embed adaptation action across Australia’s economy and society. They also agreed to extend the interim Value of Emissions Reduction (VER) to June 2026 to allow sufficient time for the development of a longer-term VER whilst still providing certainty to market bodies and participants during this period. Ministers were also briefed by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on gas availability on the East Coast noting the additional supply committed under the Gas Code of Conduct. The Australian Energy Regulator briefed Ministers on wholesale and retail markets, and network resilience. Ministers also received an update on work underway by the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory on responding to the Pepper inquiry recommendation on scope 3 emissions from the Beetaloo basin.

Ministers welcomed a briefing on progress made to facilitate the development of offshore renewable energy in Australia. Ministers noted the significant work to date and welcomed further collaboration under the National Offshore Renewables Working Group to ensure approaches to developing the industry are aligned between jurisdictions and deliver tangible benefits for local communities, and supply chain industries.

Ministers approved a Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (GEMS) package relating to the Equipment Energy Efficiency (E3) program. Ministers agreed to develop a new strategic plan for the E3 program to ensure its work plan is aligned with broader energy and emissions reduction priorities across jurisdictions. The package also supports consumers to purchase appliances that are more energy efficient, leading to reduced costs over the lifetime of the product, through increasing the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for incandescent lamps and digital displays (televisions, computer monitors and digital signage).

Ministers also agreed to work together to expedite the implementation of MEPS for heat pump hot water systems as a high priority, recognising the urgent need for objective performance standards for this rapidly growing technology. Ministers agreed to support simultaneous consideration of the standards by officials, and expedited Ministerial decision-making to progress these standards as quickly as possible. States and Territories have agreed to nominate people to join a small, virtual task force to help progress aspects of this work in parallel. Ministers also agreed that due to the urgency of these reforms, Ministers will seek opportunities to bring the standards into effect earlier than the usual 12 months following approval of a final standard. This will be supported by ongoing engagement with the industry through the development of the standards. Ministers noted that, in combination, these actions should see standards in place at least a year earlier than would otherwise be the case.

Ministers were updated on a package of building energy performance reforms including National Construction Code updates, the Built Environment Sector Plan, the Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings, and home energy ratings disclosure. The Home Energy Ratings Disclosure Framework Version 1 will be released shortly, and home energy rating pilots are to commence in the second half of 2024. These pilots, along with ongoing consultation, will inform future versions of the Framework.

Ministers noted the statement by 18 leading business, consumer and community groups that “Australia’s existing national targets emissions and energy targets for 2030 are critical foundations for the investments we need to deliver reliable, affordable, and clean energy” and backing AEMO’s Integrated System Plan as “the best roadmap we have for the NEM”.

Ministers for the Commonwealth, states where nuclear reactors have been proposed, and the territories reiterated their opposition to nuclear. These ministers agreed that in Australia, nuclear is too expensive and too slow as coal-fired power stations age and exit, risking reliability and affordability for consumers, and emissions reductions.

Noting the escalation of cyber threats in the energy sector, Ministers appreciated the updated Australian Energy Sector Cyber Security Framework (AESCSF), which will help to strengthen security across the sector. Ministers welcomed Commonwealth briefings on the threat environment, support planning to enhance resilience, and confirmed their support for the continuation of the program.

https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-and...nd-communiques

‘Destiny in our hands’: the Indigenous Australians joining the renewable energy transition

Wind turbines may pay the way for Nari Nari man Jamie Woods’ grand ambitions for his people.

“We’ve always said we want the destiny in our hands,” says Woods, the chair of the Nari Nari Tribal Council and land manager of Gayini, a vast property in south-western New South Wales that was returned to the NNTC in 2019.

Within Gayini’s rich landscape of biodiverse floodplains and Indigenous heritage, Woods envisages a cultural centre to train budding bush rangers. In surrounding regional towns, he speaks of Indigenous-led social programs to divert teenagers from entering the youth justice system, or to counter stubborn rates of suicide – particularly high among First Nations people.

Now, moving “at the pace of trust” with the windfarm developer Kilara Energy, Woods says the revenue from hosting turbines on the land may help those plans be fully realised.

“We have big ideas,” he says. “This industry will help us get there quicker.”

After years of negotiations, the NNTC has entered into an equity agreement with Kilara Energy, which is preparing an environmental impact statement of a 74-turbine windfarm on land that extends across Gayini’s southern boundary.

If the project is approved by the state government, like any landowner the NNTC would receive turbine rental payments, said to be about $40,000 per turbine annually. But unlike conventional agreements, the NNTC will also share a stake – and a say – in the development.

“We drew a line in the sand and decided we want to be in the driving seat for anything that is to be done on our managed lands,” Woods says.

If the project is approved by the state government, like any landowner the NNTC would receive turbine rental payments, said to be about $40,000 per turbine annually. But unlike conventional agreements, the NNTC will also share a stake – and a say – in the development.

“We drew a line in the sand and decided we want to be in the driving seat for anything that is to be done on our managed lands,” Woods says.

It’s a novel partnership that, according to Andrew Thomson, the chief executive of Kilara Energy, will forge a pathway for First Nations co-ownership in Australia’s energy transition.

“We still have far too many disadvantaged Indigenous communities around Australia … when you look at health, housing, workforce participation, there’s still a big gap,” Thomson says. “The renewable sector, in my view, has an opportunity to help address some of that reality.”

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The First Nations Clean Energy Network was formed in 2021 and tracks renewable energy projects with First Nations ownership. Projects range from small renewable microgrids in remote Indigenous communities to large-scale projects, including a $3bn green hydrogen plant in Western Australia that is undergoing feasibility studies.

“We’re trying to lift the aspirations of our community about what we can expect from this industry,” says the network’s director, Yorta Yorta woman Karrina Nolan.

According to the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, just 1% of renewable energy projects in Australia involve some form of First Nations equity. In Canada, considered the gold standard for First Nations participation in the transition, it’s one in five developments.

In June Bowen said the transition will have failed “if First Nations people aren’t at the centre of it”. Addressing the National Press Club this week, he said Indigenous participation “should be the norm, not the exception”.

Norman says the Albanese government is “playing catch-up” after a decade of climate inaction by the previous government. But with Indigenous engagement built into a raft of the government’s transition policies, including the draft First Nations clean energy strategy expected to be finalised by the end of the year, she expects this to accelerate.

Norman has also run workshops with Aboriginal land councils in NSW to discuss renewable energy opportunities in the region. She says there’s a “well-placed caution” about the industry among Indigenous leaders after decades of ad hoc Indigenous policy and “false horizons”.

“We have to go into this with our eyes wide open,” Norman says. “But the Canada experience shows us there is something here. I really think that this is a once in a many-generations opportunity.”

‘No one understands local issues better’: rural councils call for greater role in renewable energy transition

Rural councils should be “deeply engaged” with the planning of renewable energy projects in their back yards to keep communities on side and streamline the energy transition, local government advocates have said.

But not all renewable projects require local government approval, meaning developers are left to deal directly with local residents – to mixed results.

In New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, local councils generally have the power to approve solar farms, but not wind developments which lie with the state government.

Linda Scott, the president of the Australian Local Government Association, said approval powers aside, local governments should be central in planning because it results in “better community acceptance” and “speedier approvals”.

“Where local governments don’t have planning approvals for any major infrastructure project, proponents often forget to speak to local government,” Scott said. “This is almost always a mistake.”

Most of the footprint of the MacIntyre windfarm, the largest in the southern hemisphere, falls within the borders of Goondiwindi regional council in southern Queensland. The Goondiwindi mayor, Lawrence Springborg, said local councils want a greater say in renewable energy projects.

“We’re not talking about being frustrating and just saying no for the sake of it,” he said. “We understand state priorities and prerogatives, we’re not arguing against that. But in many ways that just sees things being waved through, often without consideration [for local communities].”

Springborg said localised economic benefits of the windfarm are not yet commensurate to the project’s scale. “If we are hosting this for the benefit of our state or our nation or our planet, surely those hosting should be able to be a major beneficiary of economic opportunity,” he said.

The former energy infrastructure commissioner, Andrew Dyer, said while local councils can play an “integral part” in the development of renewable projects, final planning approvals should remain with state and territory governments.

He added that regional councils can face a conflict of interest if a councillor is a potential neighbour or host of a project, which he said is often the case.

“The planning processes for wind, solar and storage systems are very complex,” Dyer said. “By centralising planning, you centralise expertise.”

MacIntyre’s footprint also partly extends into Southern Downs regional council. The mayor, Melissa Hamilton, said local government should have greater agency over how community benefit funds, established by most energy developers to build social licence, are distributed in regional communities.

“We don’t want to be at the whim of the proponent deciding to do a few community charity items that they choose,” Hamilton said. “No one understands your local issues better than people on the ground.”

The president of Local Government NSW, Darriea Turley, said the energy transition must be carefully managed to reduce pressure on housing and infrastructure in regional communities.

She said local government should be entrusted with community benefit funds to manage on behalf of the community, which could allow them to bring together the funding of multiple projects to pay for legacy community projects, like swimming pools and road upgrades.

“Collectively managed, the funds can put larger community needs within reach that may not have been possible using the benefit payment from one project alone,” Turley said.

There are 37 renewable energy projects planned, proposed or under construction in the NSW central-west Orana renewable energy zone, many of which lie within Dubbo regional council. The mayor, Mathew Dickerson, said one of local governments’ “greatest frustrations” is a void of policy to guide negotiations between councils and energy developers.

“You want to get as much money as you can for your community, but how much is the right amount? What’s fair and reasonable?” Dickerson said.

“I feel like we would have failed as a council if we look back in 10 years’ time and we don’t think ‘wow’ we’ve made the community a better place,” he said.

Nuclear option would mean shutting off shedloads of cheap solar to use expensive power

Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) has today released a new analysis showing that the equivalent of 45,000 Queensland household solar systems would need to be shut off every day to allow just one nuclear power station to operate in 2040. With the renewable energy rollout well underway, by the time we have built a nuclear power station in Queensland, we won't have the need for it.

Clare Silcock, Energy Strategist at QCC, said:

Nuclear power stations can’t easily turn off, which means by 2040, we’d have to turn off a staggering 3,700 GWh of cheap renewable energy every year just to run one nuclear power station. We would be shutting off cheap energy to allow expensive nuclear power to run.

This report shows that nuclear power simply doesn’t fit into a modern grid and isn’t what we need to meet our future energy demands at the least cost.

Our energy system is changing rapidly. We’ve nearly doubled renewable energy in Queensland in five years. A large part of this has been from rooftop solar systems which have fundamentally changed when we need energy to support the grid.

Baseload generation is what our power system was built on, but it’s not what we need in the future. Saying that we need baseload generation is like saying that we need floppy disks to transfer files between computers.

What we need is flexible generation and storage which can move energy from when we have lots of it, in the middle of the day, to when we need it overnight. That is not how nuclear power stations work.

The earliest we could possibly build a nuclear power plant in Australia is 2040 – by then we will have abundant renewable energy and technology like batteries and pumped hydro will be providing the flexible storage we need to support that renewable energy.

Nuclear is also much more expensive than renewable energy backed by storage. CSIRO estimates nuclear could be up to four times more expensive to build. It’s as clear as day that the Federal Coalition’s nuclear plan is a fantasy to delay the closure of Australia’s polluting coal-fired power stations.

We would like to see the Federal Opposition focus on a real plan for bringing down emissions and power prices and that would mean backing renewable energy and storage.

Joint media release: Delivering reliable renewables for Western Australia

The Albanese and Cook Governments are working to secure investment certainty for reliable renewable energy projects in Western Australia following the signing of a Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement and opening of registration today for the first Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) tender for Western Australia.

The agreement – designed to knock over the barriers that developers, communities, and governments face in delivering renewable energy projects – is part of the Albanese Government’s plan to deliver an additional 32 gigawatts of renewable generation and storage in Australia by 2030.

Under the agreement, the Albanese Government will underwrite developers to build a minimum 6.5 terawatt hours of new wind and solar projects in WA, as well as 1.1 gigawatts of new storage helping keep the electricity grid stable and make sure Western Australia always has enough cheap dispatchable power at peak periods, while increasing energy reliability and affordability.

This builds on the Cook Government’s commitment to retire its State-owned coal-fired power stations by 2030 and replace them with reliable renewable electricity generation and storage while maintaining reliability through the Reserve Capacity Mechanism.

The Western Australian and the Federal Governments have also committed to a range of practical actions as part of the agreement that will improve community engagement and drive better social and economic outcomes from the energy transformation.

This includes increasing First Nations participation and benefits, progressing skills and workforce development, and reinforcing renewable energy supply chains.

The first CIS tender in WA and opening today will target 2,000 megawatt hours of dispatchable capacity in the State’s Wholesale Electricity Market, enough to power 450,000 homes. It builds on the success of the first national CIS tender, which received more than 25 gigawatts of bids for a 6 gigawatt tender.

Registrations and tender guidelines are available through the AEMO Services website.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen:

“This is an important day for Western Australia and our partnership that’s delivering certainty and progress, and cheap, clean reliable energy to the market and to households.

“Through our Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement we’re collaborating to lower the remaining obstacles to delivery of energy infrastructure, and ensuring progress continues seamlessly across jurisdictions.

“The Albanese Government’s Reliable Renewables Plan is the only plan backed by experts to deliver the cheap, reliable and resilient energy system that families and businesses deserve. This is in sharp contrast to Peter Dutton’s anti-renewables nuclear fantasy which remains uncosted and unexplained.”

Quotes attributable to WA Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Action Reece Whitby:

“The Cook Labor Government is already investing more than $5 billion in new solar, wind and battery developments, with the Capacity Investment Scheme set to further bolster Western Australia’s decarbonisation efforts.

“We want to continue providing WA households and businesses with clean, reliable, and affordable power.

“The procurement of additional storage will be critical for firming wind and solar power during peak demand, complementing existing public and private investment in big batteries in Collie and Kwinana.”

https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen/media-releases/joint-media-release-delivering-reliable-renewables-western-australia#

Coalition’s nuclear plan delaying decisions on renewables, investors say

Renewable energy investment figures have revealed growing worries the Coalition’s plans to build nuclear reactors in Australia is breeding uncertainty and is already delaying decisions to back major solar and wind projects.

The Coalition’s push to build taxpayer-funded nuclear reactors at seven locations while refusing to back improved climate targets could see investors shifting huge sums of cash to other economies where the clean energy transition has bipartisan support.

The policy uncertainty is unlikely to be resolved until the result of the next general election is known, which could be as late as May 2025.

“Some of Australia’s biggest investors are putting on hold new clean energy investments in this country because of the lack of bipartisan support for the least-cost pathway to net zero emissions,” said Erwin Jackson, the policy director at the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC).

The Coalition’s plans include having so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) operating at sites in South Australia and Western Australia by 2035.

On Wednesday, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) released a report saying SMRs were unlikely to be available commercially until the late 2030s and a mature market might emerge “during the mid to late 2040s”.

Since the Coalition’s plans were made public, Jackson said “more than one” major investor had said they would be holding off on making an investment decision.

He said: “Investors have a duty to deliver the best long-term savings and they’ve assessed the best way to deliver that is investing in a well-planned and fair transition to net zero. If that’s not going to be delivered in Australia they will invest in other jurisdictions with clear, stable, long-term policy.”

IGCC periodically asks its members to describe issues that are barriers to investing. Jackson said surveys, carried out before the Coalition confirmed its nuclear hopes, had shown that concerns over “policy uncertainty” had fallen in the last two years.

Jackson said: “The real risk is that we return to a situation where the lack of bipartisanship will see investments flow offshore, and Australia misses out on the jobs, training and opportunities from renewable energy.”

Marilyn Crestias is the interim chief executive at the Clean Energy Investor Group, whose members have investments in half of all clean energy assets in the country’s east.

In recent months, she said the group had seen “an increase in concern and commentary [from members] around the potential for policy uncertainty and the negative impacts that would have on investments in Australia.”

She said: “That’s important because we see other countries, such as the United States, and in Europe and Asia, being really ambitious and accelerating that ambition. It’s important for Australia to remain competitive to attract that global capital.

“We need to think about the long-term signals [for investors]. They are putting in large amounts of capital on long-lived assets and they need to see those signals over the medium to long term and have certainty around the environment these assets will operate in.”

She said steps taken by states and the Albanese government, such as raising climate targets and opening investment schemes for renewables, had created a more favourable environment to invest.

“The right building blocks are being put in place,” she said. “I would urge governments to continue setting ambitious targets.”

The ATSE report on SMRs, compiled by academy fellows, said the technology was still in its infancy and no commercial projects existed in the OECD, but it was “possible that several prototype SMRs may be licenced, commissioned and built in OECD countries by the mid-2030s”.

The report said the lowest risk and cheapest option for Australia would be to wait until a mature market exists for SMRs, which would likely be in the mid- to late-2040s.

Australia Awards New Offshore Acreage

Australia has awarded new offshore acreage for petroleum exploration and carbon capture and storage (CCS) opportunities.

The Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King will finalize permits for Esso and Beach Energy in the Otway and Sorrell Basins, with any discovered gas to support the domestic east coast market.

Exploration permits will also be finalized for Chevron, INPEX, Melbana and Woodside Energy on Australia’s west coast. In addition, 10 permits will be finalized for carbon capture and storage exploration.

“As ageing coal generation comes offline in coming years, gas will continue to be needed to firm renewable energy generation and as a backup during peak energy use periods,” King said. “Gas is critical for the transition. But it will be a diminishing proportion of our energy mix to 2050 as other storage technologies come online.”

The finalization of offshore exploration permits does not automatically allow new offshore gas production to occur. Separate and extensive safety and environmental approvals are required through Australia’s independent National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.

There will be no new seismic surveying permitted to occur as part of the approved work program for each permit. Companies will instead be required to licence or reprocess existing seismic data.

Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch welcomed King’s announcement of three years’ worth of acreage releases, which she says is critical to maintaining the pipeline of gas supply projects needed to ensure Australia’s long-term energy security.

“With oil and gas exploration at an all-time low across Australia, industry needs policy certainty and regulatory stability to invest in the next generation of gas supply to meet the significant demand for gas that Australia and our region will need.”

McCulloch said today’s announcement is an important step in the right direction, however it is imperative the Government open the next round of petroleum acreage permits as soon as possible to find and develop the next generation of gas supply.

“Australia is facing structural gas shortfalls from 2027 and the outlook will only worsen in the years to follow if we do not have a steady pipeline of new gas projects,” she said. “It has been two years since the last petroleum acreage release in what used to be an annual process. Australia has abundant gas resources but needs the political will to restore investment confidence and ensure timely approvals for much-needed new gas supply.”

McCulloch said the awarding of offshore acreage for CCS was crucial to the net zero ambitions of Australia and the region. “CCS has a critical role to play in the decarbonization of Australia’s economy, and Australia is ideally placed to become a leader in our region,” she said.

Origin to double size of Eraring battery to soak up solar next to country’s biggest coal generator

Origin Energy has announced plans to double the size of the Eraring battery already under construction, adding a more than four-hour second stage to the facility to help soak up solar at the site of Australia’s largest coal generator.

The addition of a 240 megawatt (MW), 1030 megawatt hour (MWh) second stage will take the total size of the Eraring battery to 700 MW and 2103 MWh – pipped in size only by Neoen’s 2240 MWh Collie battery in Western Australia and Ark Energy’s proposed eight hour 2,200 MWh Myrtle Creek battery in NSW as the biggest in the country.

Origin is rapidly accelerating its investments in battery storage, having recently committed to the development of a 300 MW/650 MWh battery next to its Mortlake gas generator in Victoria, and striking tolling agreements for the offtake of the Supernode battery stage 1 and 2 near Brisbane, which amounts to 500 MW and 1560 MWh over two stages.

The company recently secured a deal to extend the operations of the 2,880 MW Eraring coal generator, for at least another two years and up to $450 million in payments from the NSW government, mainly because not enough replacement capacity had been built – either by Origin or any other party – to replace it.

“The second stage of the Eraring battery will be over four-hours duration and it will be capable of absorbing excess solar generation during the day to support reliable energy supply when needed, such as through the evening peak,” Greg Jarvis, the head of Origin’s energy supply and operations said in a statement.

“Eraring is a strategic site with high quality connection infrastructure. Confirmation of the second stage of the Eraring battery development is a key next step as we look to transform the site for the future so it can continue to support the energy transition.”

Origin has chosen Finnish technology group Wärtsilä as the technology provider – which is also supplying the first stage – while design and construction services to be provided by Enerven Energy Infrastructure (Enerven).

The company says the addition of the second stage will cost around $450 million, compared to more than $600 million for the slightly smaller first stage (in terms of megawatt hours).

That reflects some efficiencies from piggy-backing on an already started projects, but it also speaks to the big fall in battery storage technology costs, something confirmed in its recent first half results. “Battery material prices decreased during the second quarter of 2024,” it said.

Origin has revealed a number of other potential battery projects, including at its Darling Downs gas generator in Queensland, where it is mulling a 500 MW, 2,000 MWh battery, a 200 MW, 800 MWh battery at Templers Creek in South Australia, and two other “confidential” projects in Queensland and South Australia.

Eraring is Australia’s largest power station and supplies up to a quarter of electricity supply in New South Wales. Eraring is scheduled to close in August 2027, although it could stay open until 2029. The funding deal with the NSW government only extends to two years at this stage. It was due to close in August, 2025.

In a later statement, Wärtsilä – which has also provided the technology for AGL’s Torrens Island battery in South Australia – says the stage 2 Eraring battery will operate in Virtual Synchronous Machine (VISMA) mode, which enabling short circuit current capabilities such as reactive current, droop control, and synthetic inertia, to support grid stability and security.

“These capabilities, known as system strength support services, will be facilitated by Wärtsilä’s intelligent energy management system, the GEMS Digital Energy Platform,” it said.

It said stage two will be built with its Quantum High Energy next-generation energy storage system which includes advanced safety features, increased energy density and reduced maintenance requirements.

The second stage will be finished in 2027. The first stage is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

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In other news…..

Ex-coalminer awarded $3.2m for black lung in Australian first

A coalminer who developed black lung due to his employers’ negligence has been awarded a landmark legal victory and a multimillion-dollar payout.

Craig Keogh, a machine operator at New South Wales and Queensland mines, became the first Australian to win a black lung case at trial, paving the way for other sufferers to make successful compensation claims.

The Dust Diseases Tribunal of NSW found the mines were negligent in exposing Keogh to coal dust because they did not take reasonable care to ensure he was not exposed to avoidable injuries.

Keogh, who was diagnosed with pneumoconiosis in 2018 and has battled mental health issues since, was awarded $3.2m in damages.

Downer Mining, CPB Contractors and Campbell Mining Services were all on the hook after the decision.

Keogh said he was never warned of the dangers dust from mines could pose and never wore a mask at work.

“It has basically destroyed me … physically I can’t do anything any more, mentally there has been an impact on my thought process, my concentration, everything’s changed in my life,” he said.

“I’ll run out of breath very quickly, I’m always fatigued, it’s just not good – and it’s just going to get worse.”

Jabiluka uranium mine lease not renewed in decision heralded as ‘huge win’

The lease on the Northern Territory’s Jabiluka uranium mine will not be renewed, months after its remote surrounding area was granted new protections.

Energy Resources Australia (ERA) had applied for a 10-year lease renewal on the Jabiluka uranium mine, but was knocked back on Friday.

The NT mining minister, Mark Monaghan, said the decision to not renew was based partially on advice from the federal government.

“We have gone through a thorough process to ensure that all stakeholder views have been considered in this decision,” he said.

“The federal government advice, along with the wishes of the Mirarr people, were critical to this process and outcome.”

The Northern Territory government declared special reserve status over the Jabiluka area, which is in the surrounds of Kakadu national park, in May.

This prevents any future applications for the grant of a mineral title over the Jabiluka area once the current lease ceases on 11 August.

The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed the decision, calling it a “huge win” for traditional owners.

“This decision allows a line to be drawn under the divisive era of uranium mining in Kakadu,” a statement read.

“This is a responsible decision that ends the threat that has hovered over this very special place for four decades.”

Mirarr people have long opposed any mining in the area, holding protests in the late 1990s and early 2000s when more than 5,000 people travelled to Kakadu to prevent uranium mining at Jabiluka.

Energy Resources of Australia, a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group, has been contacted for comment.

Farmers charged up over renewable energy projects

Farmers want to force renewable energy developers to maintain the agricultural productivity of the land.

Producers have been frustrated by a lack of planning and consultation for the rollout of projects including the location of transmission lines.

At their annual conference in Sydney, farmers have been fired up over renewable energy and want more control over how projects are planned.

Delegates also called for payments to farmers hosting renewable energy projects to be paid for the life of the project and not the 25-year term currently being offered.

"Delegates are expressing their frustration ... most are saying in living memory they can't remember anything so badly thought through," freshly re-elected president of NSW Farmers Xavier Martin said."The impact on the landscape on some of our prime agricultural land is just appalling."

While NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe acknowledged there had been problems with the rollout of renewable energy she said things were turning around.

"I know many of you struggle with the renewable energy zones... the rollout is complicated but the rollout is well under way," the minister told delegates on Wednesday.

"I'm not going to tell you that it's perfect, but it is turning it around.

"I would hope that we are learning all the time from the mistakes of the past and we're getting better on the way through," she said of projects that had divided some communities.

The minister again ruled out sending transmission lines underground.

"It is too expensive and it will take too long, our government's been really up front about that," she told reporters.

NSW Premier Chris Minns also addressed the conference on Wednesday acknowledging the threat posed by fire ants and feral pigs.

The premier outlined efforts that had seen 110,000 pigs in a nine-month period but conceded there were still feral pig 'hotspots' across the state.

The power of the supermarkets was again discussed by farmers who called for greater fairness and expanded competition in the food and retail supply chain.

It followed a Woolworths employee being ejected from the NSW Farmers Horticulture meeting on Monday after failing to disclose that they worked for the supermarket giant.

Committee chair Jo Brighenti-Barnard, who was overseeing proceedings when sensitive grower information was being discussed, described the actions as underhanded.

"Once we discovered they did work for Woolworths and didn't identify themselves we thought 'what are they actually doing there, why not be open and honest?'," she told AAP.

Woolworths said it wasn't aware the employee was attending but called the incident "an unfortunate misunderstanding".

The woman had attended in a private capacity as "a university student involved with a startup incubator that's looking to create an app to support farmers".

She thought it would be a good opportunity to connect with farmers to help inform the app's development, Woolworths said.

NatRoad calls for an urgent $3 billion Clean Transport Fund

The National Road Transport Association (NatRoad) is urging the Australian Government to urgently establish a $3 billion Clean Transport Fund to support the trucking industry’s transition to net zero emissions. In a new policy paper Stronger Economy, Lower Emissions and their recent submissions on the Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Roadmap and Low Carbon Liquid Fuels, NatRoad highlighted the critical need for financial backing to ensure the sector can effectively reduce emissions without jeopardising its future.

“Trucking is an essential part of Australia’s economy, yet our industry is under immense pressure,” NatRoad CEO Warren Clark said. “With an average profit margin of just 2%, a shortage of 26,000 drivers, and the weight of extensive red tape, the proposed roadmap falls short of offering the support needed to help road freight businesses reduce emissions effectively.”

Transport is poised to become the highest-emitting sector by the end of the decade due to Australia’s growing freight task and the projected reduction in emissions from the electricity sector. NatRoad’s policy paper underscores the necessity for a cost-effective transition strategy for road freight transport and advocates for a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) to facilitate the gradual integration of renewable diesel and other low carbon fuels.

“A Low Carbon Fuel Standard is vital,” Clark said. “Without it, we won’t have renewable fuels, so long-haul and regional freight, which are difficult to electrify, will remain heavily reliant on diesel. An LCFS will reduce the carbon intensity of fuels over time, allowing small trucking businesses to continue operating efficiently whilst reducing emissions.”

NatRoad’s call for the establishment of a $3 billion Clean Transport Fund is aimed at:

supporting the rollout of electric trucks
recharging infrastructure
hydrogen solutions
boosting efficiency with better heavy vehicle access, and
giving trucking operators better information to make low emission investment decisions.
Additionally, a supply chain emissions reduction obligation for big businesses is recommended, ensuring they take responsibility for their scope 3 emissions.

“Big businesses need to back up their green pledges with genuine purchasing commitments. Major transport customers can’t simply bank billion-dollar profits while seeking low-cost transport contracts and claiming to be saving the planet. They can do more to offer road freight companies better rates and contract terms to enable low-emission transport solutions,” Clark added.

Governments must also do more. Successive governments have invested billions in aiding big energy businesses to decarbonise, yet small trucking businesses have not received similar support. Clark said the proposed $3 billion Clean Transport Fund would represent just 2.5% of the cost of the 10-year infrastructure pipeline.

“Transport is on track to become the highest emitting sector, but small trucking businesses are not getting the help they need,” Clark said. “A $3 billion Clean Transport Fund is a reasonable request, considering the significant public benefits, such as lower emissions and health costs.

“The Government’s transport net zero roadmap will be meaningless without serious investment. Emissions are still rising, and without the right policy framework, net zero will push the industry into crisis.”

NatRoad’s policy paper also calls for regulatory reform, harmonisation, and better information for operators to plan future investment decisions. A fair transition is crucial, one that protects jobs and working conditions, safeguards small businesses, and ensures that regional communities are not left behind or burdened with higher costs.

“Australia’s roadmap to net zero for transport is not on track, risking our climate targets and pushing the industry into crisis. We need a comprehensive transition strategy that secures the future of our supply chains, strengthens our economy, and lowers emissions. The Australian fair go should apply to this transition, protecting jobs and ensuring no one is left behind,” Clark concluded.

'Landmark' greenwashing case slugs super giant $11.3m

Australia's corporate watchdog has welcomed a $11.3 million court penalty against a superannuation giant in a "landmark" greenwashing case.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission last year launched Federal Court proceedings against Mercer Super, accusing it of engaging in greenwashing between November 2021 and March 2023.

It alleged Mercer falsely claimed its "Sustainable Plus" investment options excluded investments in companies involved in the production or sale of alcohol, gambling and fossil fuels.

In reality, six of the seven investment options were connected to those industries.

Mercer admitted the breaches in December 2023, conceding it made false or misleading statements to the public.

The corporate watchdog and Mercer agreed to a $11.3 million fine, which the Federal Court formally confirmed on Friday morning.

Justice Christopher Horan also ordered Mercer to publish a notice on the sustainable investments page of its website detailing its admitted conduct.

The notice must remain on the website for six months, he said.

Mercer accepted the court's decision and acknowledged the need for accurate information around investment options, a spokeswoman told AAP.

"We have co-operated with ASIC and undertaken a comprehensive review of our internal marketing processes and procedures," the company said in a statement.

"These issues were not intentional and we apologise to our members and clients."

Mercer will not use members' funds to pay for the penalty, the spokeswoman said.

In his judgment, Justice Horan said greenwashing had the potential to reduce consumer confidence in environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).

"(Greenwashing) undermines the efforts of businesses that are pursuing ESG goals accurately and fairly," the judge said.

"It is vital that consumers in the financial services industry can have confidence in ESG claims made by providers of financial products and services."

ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said it was a "landmark case" for both the watchdog and the financial services industry.

"This was ASIC's first greenwashing case brought before the Federal Court," she said.

"We will continue to monitor the market for ESG-related claims that cannot be validated by evidence to ensure the market is fair and transparent."

Greenwashing involves making false or misleading statements about the environmental benefits of a product or practice.

Australians shunning petrol-powered cars for hybrid vehicles as bowser prices rise

Australians are buying more cars than ever but are increasingly choosing hybrid vehicles over petrol-powered cars due to rising costs at the bowser, new data by the Australian Automobiles Association shows.

Quarterly vehicle sales data released on Monday revealed a further uptick in demand for hybrid vehicles, a trend the industry believes reflects both the rising cost of living, as well as range anxiety and concerns over a lack of charging infrastructure affecting purely electric vehicles.

Broadly, total sales across all engine types rose by 10.25% in the three months to 30 June, from 292,944 to 312,889. This follows sales in 2023 setting an all-time record, with more than 1.2m vehicles delivered, according to the figures based on Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data.

Sales of traditional petrol-fuelled cars, known as internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, rose by 3.13% over the quarter. However, because total sales of all vehicle types rose at a faster rate, the market share of ICE vehicles dropped from 78.16% to 75.47%.

The move from traditional ICE vehicles towards greener alternatives has been gradual but pronounced, with market share decreasing from 86.4% to 75.47% over the past 18 months.

Battery electric vehicles declined by 0.78%, from 25,552 to 25,353, representing a decline in market share from 8.72% to 8.10%. Battery electric vehicles had a peak in market share in the first quarter of 2024 when they represented 8.72% of national sales.

Hybrid vehicles continued to grow in popularity. Sales grew by 33.49%, with 46,727 sold in the three months to the end of June compared with 35,003 in the previous quarter.

The market share of hybrid vehicles rose from 11.95% to 14.93% in the quarter.

Plug-in hybrids – which have a battery that can be charged externally to limit reliance on petrol – also increased, gaining 1.49% market share in the three months to 30 June.

While this was up significantly from the previous quarter’s share of 1.17%, it was only slightly above the market share in the final quarter of 2023, when plug-in hybrids represented 1.47% of sales.

Just five hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles were sold nationally in the three months to 30 June 2024, up from two sales in the previous quarter.

Hybrids have now outsold electric vehicles over four consecutive quarters.

EPA deals ‘major blow’ to Woodside’s multibillion-dollar gas drilling plan at Browse basin

A multibillion-dollar Woodside Energy gas export development off Western Australia’s north-west has been deemed “unacceptable” by the state’s Environment Protection Authority due to its impact on marine life at Scott Reef.

The EPA’s assessment of Woodside’s Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) proposal was revealed in response to a freedom of information request by WAToday.

It follows scientists raising concerns that extraction at the Browse basin, about 300km off the Kimberley coast, could damage a coral reef ecosystem that is home to more than 1,500 species, many unique to the area. They identified risks to migrating whale species, the possible sinking of a beach used for nesting by endangered turtles and the potential of an oil spill in a pristine environment.

The EPA refused WAToday’s request for information but said in its response it had told Woodside in February that its preliminary view was that “the proposal was unacceptable”.

Browse is Australia’s largest untapped conventional gas field. Woodside’s proposal involves drilling wells within about 3km of the reef and piping gas 900km for processing at the North West Shelf LNG processing plant at Karratha, on the Indigenous-heritage rich Burrup peninsula. It expects it to deliver 11.4m tonnes of LNG a year.

It is part of a proposed gas expansion that analysts say could be Australia’s greatest contribution to global heating if fully developed. Woodside’s “Burrup Hub vision” also includes the Scarborough gas field, the expansion of the Pluto LNG processing facility and extending the life of the North West Shelf plant by 50 years.

The plans have been broadly backed by senior members of the state and federal Labor governments, including the premier, Roger Cook, and the federal resources minister, Madeleine King, but some stages are yet to be approved under state and national environment law.

The EPA position is not final; Woodside has an opportunity to provide more information. The authority will then make a recommendation to the state’s environment minister, Reece Whitby. The minister does not have to follow the EPA’s advice.

But the Conservation Council of Western Australia said even a preliminary view by the EPA that Browse should be rejected was a “significant and historic finding”. It said the authority had recommended against only two of 100 oil and gas proposals since the mid-1980s.

The council’s executive director, Jess Beckerling, said the revelation was “a major blow” to Woodside’s plan.

“The EPA has now said what we knew all along – the Browse project would be devastating for WA’s environment, and no government should let it proceed,” she said. “It is now incumbent on the WA and federal governments to respect this independent scientific advice and expert opinion, and refuse Woodside’s application to develop Browse.”

Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s chief, David Ritter, said the Burrup Hub was “an irredeemably bad project” and called on Plibersek to “put this project out of its misery, for once and for all”.

“This singular decision will come to define Labor’s legacy on environmental protection,” he said. “We urge Minister Plibersek to do the right thing and to choose a safe and sustainable future for our children over Woodside’s nature-wrecking pursuit of profit.”

Cook said the government wanted the Browse development to go ahead. He said it was a “difficult and complex” project and that conversations between Woodside and the EPA about addressing “issues of concern” were continuing.

“The EPA are there to assess these projects and make sure that we can mitigate against any negative impacts on the environment, and that’s why they are obviously in deep discussions with the government in relation to that project,” he said, according to the West Australian.

Cook said Browse would be “an important part of not only Western Australia’s gas supply, but making sure that we can assist our south-east Asian and north Asian partners to decarbonise their economies”.

A spokesperson for the federal environment department said it had paused assessment of the Browse project and the North West Shelf gas plant’s life extension until it received further information from the WA government and Woodside.

A Woodside spokesperson said Browse was “an important resource that could help address the shortfall of domestic gas in Western Australia forecast from the early 2030s and support energy security in Asia”.

“We continue to work with relevant regulators to progress environmental approvals for Browse,” they said.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis challenged the suggestion by Australian and Japanese leaders that the Asian country needed Australian gas to maintain its energy supply. The thinktank’s analysis found demand for gas had fallen in Japan over the past decade and the country was selling more LNG overseas than it bought from Australia.

Great Barrier Reef coral report shows some regrowth before summer from hell

• Long Term Monitoring Program is crucial barometer of the Reef’s long-term health
• 67% of surveys conducted before mass bleaching event; 55% before two cyclones
• Australia must do more to address climate change: improved greenhouse emissions reductions target; stop approving new fossil fuel developments; and progress new nature laws that take climate into account

The latest Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Great Barrier Reef coral monitoring report released today shows a slight improvement in hard coral cover, although most of the surveys were conducted before the Reef suffered the extreme mass coral bleaching event over the summer, the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) said.

The AIMS Long Term Monitoring Program is a crucial barometer of the long-term trends in the health of the Great Barrier Reef. The latest report shows a 4-5% increase in hard coral cover across the three regions of the Great Barrier Reef, although 67% of surveys were conducted before the mass bleaching event, the fifth in eight years; and 55% of the surveys were conducted before cyclones hit, so this year’s report does not cover the full extent of the impacts on coral from the extreme summer the Reef has experienced..

AMCS Great Barrier Reef Campaign Manager Dr Lissa Schindler said: “The AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program provides a crucial long-term look at how the Reef is tracking through time. However, it is yet to take in the current health of the Great Barrier Reef, which has just experienced a summer of hell including cyclones and the worst mass bleaching event on record.

“Two-thirds of the surveys were conducted before the latest mass bleaching event, in which 75% of the Reef was impacted, and more than half the surveys were before two cyclones hit. Surveys also consider bleached coral as live coral, even though we know that some of that coral will not survive and die.

“Mortality data is being collected in addition to the Long Term Monitoring Program, but we will likely not know the true impact of last summer until early next year. The Australian and Queensland governments have to report back to UNESCO in February on the coral mortality that has occurred during this latest bleaching event.

“The LTMP is useful for tracking long-term trends in Reef health and shows if given time and opportunity the Reef can recover from mass bleaching events. As climate change worsens, marine heatwaves will become more frequent and more severe, which will diminish the Reef’s ability to recover.

“Australia must do more to protect its greatest natural asset and battle climate change, which is driving the marine heatwaves that cause the mass coral bleaching events on the Reef. Australia must urgently cut greenhouse gas emissions, stop approving new fossil fuel projects, and progress the promised new nature laws to take into account climate change.

“The good news is that the Australian Government is currently reviewing its climate targets and environmental laws, and it has an opportunity to make a significant difference. We are urging the government to act now before it is too late.”

Insurance prices blowing away cyclone-prone communities

Insurers aren't doing enough to support cyclone-stricken regions of north Queensland as climate change intensifies the impact of natural disasters, a Senate inquiry will hear on Friday.

Property owners in Queensland's cyclone region are paying up to 12 times more on insurance premiums than those near the southern border, according to a submission by the North Queensland Strata Action Group.

The Senate inquiry will meet for a second day in Brisbane to hear evidence from Strata Action and Suncorp, as well as local governments, and climate advocacy organisations.

Insurance prices have more than tripled since 2022 and as the cost-of-living crisis gets worse residents are struggling to keep up.

The federal government has made major investments into disaster mitigation in the region but residents are still being denied coverage based on risk, the Queensland Local Government Association said in its submission.

The prices are set for the entire region, which means residents are paying more for risks that might not even affect their community.

Mackay has not been directly hit by a cyclone since 1918 but property owners in the central Queensland city are still paying for the risk.

Self-insured flood victims in regional NSW are paying less to repair their homes than those with insurance, the committee was told by councillors during its first session in Ballina on Thursday.

Suncorp's submission laid out a four-point plan for the government to further mitigate the impact of natural disasters in the region.

The insurance company's recommendations include government funding for infrastructure, grants for property owners, better urban planning and lowering taxes on property owners with insurance.

The committee is due to report to the Senate on November 19.