Thread: Keeping tabs on Australia"s newly elected Government

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared he wants to serve a full second term in government if re-elected in 2025, with the PM not seeing his age of 60 as any impediment to a long period as the country's prime minister.

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• Bowen says Coalition attack on CSIRO and AEMO is wrong and “unbecoming”

Federal energy minister Chris Bowen has defended key government agencies, the CSIRO and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, against the unrelenting and false attacks from the Coalition opposition over the two organisations’ cost estimates for renewables and nuclear.

The federal Opposition has now declared openly that it wants to stop renewables and the roll out of new transmission lines, and keep coal plants operating while waiting for nuclear power plants that might be more than a decade away.

Such a move would not only bring Australia’s decarbonisation efforts to a halt, particularly on the grid but also other industries that depend on it, but also raise costs as nuclear is widely seen as the least flexible and most expensive new generation option.

The federal Coalition, with the ardent support of Murdoch media, has been attacking the CSIRO “GenCost” report and AEMO’s Integrated System Plan – which clearly state that renewables and storage are the cheapest options.

The Coalition and Murdoch columnists pretend that neither include transmission and storage costs (even though AEMO has said quite clearly that they do).

“Far too many newspaper column inches are being spent on what is a rather large attempted distraction; the idea of nuclear power of Australia,” Bowen said in a speech on Tuesday.

He said the Coalition’s description of the GenCost report, put together by CSIRO and AEMO, as “Labor’s GenCost” was particularly galling.

The GenCost report, like the ISP, has been produced for a number of years. In fact their first editions came out under the federal Coalition government. Their costings have changed little since, other than to note the downward trend of wind, solar and storage.

AEMO last week slammed the Murdoch media’s attack on the ISP, amplified by the Coalition, that it did not take into account transmission costs, and insisted that wind, solar and storage was clearly the cheapest option for Australia, by some distance.

Bowen pursued that line.

“The implication that this (the GenCost report) is anything but the most rigorous and independent work of two respected and independent agencies is unbecoming and inaccurate,” he said.

“I’ll say it simply: nuclear power for Australia doesn’t stack up.

“We hear a lot about small modular reactors. In some ways SMRs are small. Their output is low: 300MW compared to around 2GW for many power stations.

“In other ways they are not small. Conservative estimates put their cost at $5 billion. Likely much more. $5 billion for 300MW is a lot of dollars, for not many megawatts.

“The AEMO and CSIRO Gencost report has made clear the hierarchy of costs: renewables being the cheapest and nuclear being the most expensive.

“With the more likely high end cost of SMR power being $349 MWh while firmed renewables are $100 at the highest possible end, and as low as $65 MWh.”

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• Governor Newsom Announces New Climate Partnership With Australia

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: California and Australia are working together to fight climate change, focusing on clean energy, clean tech, nature-based solutions, trade, and more – the latest of several international partnerships California has joined to advance climate action.

SACRAMENTO – Today, California and Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), forging a new climate partnership between two of the largest economies in the world.

The MOU outlines five years of cooperation between California and Australia on clean energy, clean transportation, clean technologies, nature-based solutions, climate adaptation, green finance and investment and circular economy.

Led by Governor Gavin Newsom and The Honorable Dr. Kevin Rudd, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States, the California and Australia delegations signed the historic MOU at the Stanford Mansion in Sacramento.

What Governor Newsom said: “California and Australia are on the front lines of the climate crisis. From extreme heat and historic drought to catastrophic wildfires and rising sea levels, the last few years have further crystallized the need for urgent action. It’s not enough for us to act alone. We’re coming together to confront the greatest crisis our world has ever known for the good of all Californians and Australians.”

What Ambassador Rudd said: “I’m proud to join Governor Newsom for the signing of this landmark climate MoU. While Australia and California face shared challenges from the climate crisis, we also share a mutual ambition to find bold solutions to combatting climate change and achieving net zero emissions. This MoU accelerates our cooperation and affirms our intent to be global leaders in areas including clean transportation, clean energy, nature-based solutions, research and development, and climate-friendly business.”

The text of the MOU can be found here. In addition to the MOU, Governor Newsom and Ambassador Rudd signed a Joint Statement affirming their partnership on the climate action outlined in the MOU.

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• NSW Department of Planning and Environment split to elevate climate and housing

NSW Planning and Environment will be split into two departments, the second machinery of government (MOG) change for the state’s public service since Labor got into power.

Effective from January 1, the two new entities are the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

Kiersten Fishburn, recently permanently made DPE secretary, will remain secretary of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

The Office of Energy and Climate Change, currently in Treasury, will shift to the new departments.

Any further MOGs will happen following the Budget on September 19. All MOGs to date will be reflected in the Budget.

A public sector review is ongoing.

NSW premier Chris Minns said the changes aligned the government with the community’s interests.

“The new Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water pulls together the collective environmental expertise of government into one place – creating a team ready to tackle one of our biggest challenges in energy security,” Minns said.

NSW climate change minister Penny Sharpe said the government went into the election to take “serious action” on climate change.

“This new department brings these key tasks together and will allow the Minns government to deliver on our election commitments and focus on the future of NSW,” Sharpe said.

“This future secures clean energy, drives economic growth for households and businesses and protects our air, our water, our soil and our plants and animals.”

The federal government made a similar MOG when it created the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

https://www.themandarin.com.au/22819...imate-housing/

over $5 billion in capital

• EnergyAustralia releases inaugural Climate Transition Action Plan

EnergyAustralia today released its inaugural Climate Transition Action Plan (CTAP) setting out its plan to achieve Net Zero by 2050 across Scopes 1 and 2 emissions and its intention to develop a decarbonisation pathway for Scope 3 emissions by the end of 2024.

The CTAP includes a new commitment to work with partners to expand its renewable portfolio with up to 3GW to be committed or operational by 2030.

EnergyAustralia Managing Director Mark Collette said: “EnergyAustralia’s purpose is to lead and accelerate the clean energy transformation for all. Our CTAP is a milestone on our journey to reach Net Zero by 2050. The plan demonstrates we understand the size and complexity of the task for EnergyAustralia and for Australia as a whole.

“We are investing in and supporting renewables firming and renewable assets that will shape EnergyAustralia’s future and make the energy transition simpler for our customers.

“Our decarbonisation plan includes the closure of the Yallourn power station and brown coal mine in mid-2028 and the transition of Mt Piper toward a lower total emissions renewables firming role and ultimately a reserve role before retirement by 2040.

“The expansion of our commitment to renewables complements our existing pipeline of energy storage and renewables firming initiatives which, together with our partners, will involve the deployment of over $5 billion in capital.”

Mr Collette added: “We recognise the clean energy transformation is one of the most significant undertakings of the modern era involving real challenges and significant uncertainties.

“There is much more to accomplish, and our first Climate Transition Action Plan explains where we are on the journey to achieving Net Zero and lays out our next steps.

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• Australian climate movement writing 'Yes' to Voice

In an open letter signed by 43 climate organisations representing more than two million Australians, the climate movement has come out in support of writing 'Yes' for the Referendum, as a long-standing commitment to climate and first nations justice.

Larissa Baldwin-Roberts, CEO GetUp and Widjabul Wia-bal woman said:

"First Nations people are on the front lines of fossil fuel extraction and climate change but the solutions to these issues exist in our communities. When we listen to our elders, when we support and work with Indigenous rangers - these are examples of our adaptive capacity and effectiveness in applying First Nations knowledge to respond to climate challenges.

"If we write 'Yes' we can give First Nations communities greater decision-making authority and create transformative change that centres our strength and solutions in climate policy across the country, protecting our country, the climate and generations to come.

"​​There is no climate justice without First Nations justice."

David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:

"Across this great continent, First Nations people are the first experts in climate solutions. Writing Yes in the referendum is a way to say that we want to hear the wisdom and expertise of the oldest living culture on earth, whose leadership is essential for better environment and climate outcomes.

"First Nations communities are also on the frontline of climate impacts and the fight against fossil fuels, but do not have an equal say in policies that affect them. We know that policies are more effective when those who are affected by them have a voice, and a powerful 'Yes' vote will achieve just that."

Kelly O'Shanassy, ACF's CEO said:

"Rightful recognition of, and genuine reconciliation with, First Nations Peoples is fundamental to protecting nature in Australia.

"As we confront the urgent climate and nature crises, we have much to learn from listening to the country's original, enduring custodians."

Read ACF's statement on the Voice

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• Aussie-led global consortium joins offshore wind frenzy

A major energy company has joined top women in wind power and a global contractor in a bid to build an offshore wind farm off the coast of Victoria's Gippsland region.

EnergyAustralia and Dutch offshore specialist Boskalis are part of a consortium led by Elanora Offshore that is seeking to be one of the first to build offshore wind in Australia.

The new consortium will announce on Monday the intention to develop a five gigawatt project, with funding commitments in place from leading global investors.

The Elanora Offshore project would create over 3000 jobs during the construction phase and 320 jobs during operations.

The grouping is led by the two founders of KIMAenergy, who have worked on over 15GW of offshore wind projects elsewhere and will manage the project out of Victoria.

Elanora Offshore CEO Maya Malik is moving back to Australia after more than 15 years in offshore wind and energy infrastructure in Europe and Asia.

"We are deeply committed to the success of offshore wind in Australia and we want to see it done right," Ms Malik said.

That means sustainable technology, delivering benefits for local communities and minimising environmental impact, she said.

When fully operational, the project would provide enough clean energy to meet up to 40 per cent of Victoria's present day energy needs and avoid over 600 million tonnes of carbon emissions over the life of the project.

The gusty waters off Gippsland, Australia's first declared offshore wind zone, will host several mega projects to replace the state's ageing coal-fired power stations.

EnergyAustralia operates the Yallourn coal power station in Latrobe Valley that provides one-fifth of Victoria's power and accounts for eight per cent of Australia's national electricity market

Yallourn is due to close in 2028 and will be partly replaced with a big battery project that should be completed by 2026.

"We see offshore wind as a clean energy source that can replace part of the capacity lost through the retirement of coal-fired generation," the energy company's head of portfolio development Dan Nugent said.

It would also provide another source of new employment for Yallourn workers, he said.

EnergyAustralia has 1.6 million customers across eastern Australia and a future offtake agreement with Elanora Offshore would underpin the commercial viability of the project.

The other partners are Australian-led renewables developer Polpo Investments and European energy trader Respect Energy.

Victoria has set targets for at least 2GW of offshore wind to be in the electricity grid by 2032, 4GW by 2035 and 9GW by 2040.

A growing list of technically feasible options will be reduced to a shortlist of projects for detailed appraisal.

The government will be confirming preferred bidders and next steps in late 2023 to early 2024.

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• Loy Yang A coal-fired power station to officially close in June 2035

A closure date of 20 June 2035 has officially been set for the coal-fired Loy Yang A power station in Victoria.

Last year it was announced that AGL Energy would shut it down in 2035, earlier than the previously announced closure target 0f 2045.

As part of the structured transition agreement, Loy Yang will be required to operate at certain agreed minimum operational levels until its closure date. Additionally, frameworks have been put in place to avoid the unplanned closure of the power station before 20 June 2035.

Heidi Murphy - Loy Yang’s official closure date set at June 20, 2035. https://twitter.com/heidimur/status/1693398921027137816

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...until-mid-2035

• Investment in new Australian wind and solar farms stalls amid ‘raft of barriers’, report finds

Investment in new wind and solar farms has all but stalled with developers facing a “raft of barriers” despite strong political support, the Clean Energy Council said in its latest quarterly report.

The first half of 2023 produced the slowest pace of final investment approvals in the council’s six years of data tracking. Just four generation projects accounting for 348 megawatts – or roughly the size of a single coal-fired power station unit – secured financial commitment in the June quarter.

While an improvement on the March quarter, investment levels so far this year are running at half the pace of the rolling 12-month average of just under 700MW. The combined investment value of the four projects was $225m, or less than a fifth of the 12-month average of $1.3bn.

“While there is now strong political support for the clean energy transition, there remains a raft of barriers as a result of the historic lack of leadership, planning and foresight over the prior decade,” Kane Thornton, the council’s chief executive, said.

“There is an enormous pipeline of renewable energy projects in Australia, but investors are swamped with global opportunity at a time where these barriers make Australian projects less attractive.”

Investments in storage, particularly batteries, offered a more promising result. The Waratah super battery in New South Wales with its 850MW/1,680MW-hour capacity led the way, accounting for about half of the new storage reaching financial approval in the quarter. The six projects were valued at a record $2bn, the council said.

The slowdown in new investments being signed off comes despite a pipeline of some 108 generation and storage projects either reaching financial closure or being under construction.

The sector was “a long way off the pace necessary for Australia to achieve an 82% renewable energy share by 2030”, the council said, referring to the Albanese government’s inferred target from its emissions reduction goals.

The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the former government had overseen a decline of 3GW of dispatchable power with the closure of coal plants not made up with new clean energy capacity.

“Our strong stance on climate, leadership and policy certainty is paying dividends with $2bn worth of storage projects reaching the investment stage in Q2,” Bowen said. “The surge in storage investment shows the government’s focus on ensuring reliability as renewable penetration grows above 35% of generation is making an impact.”

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• Tracking Australia’s progress on the climate crisis and the consequences of global heating

After nearly a decade of stalling and delaying on climate action, Australia has a government that promises new policies and has set new emissions reduction targets.

Guardian Australia is tracking progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and documenting the consequences of the global heating that has already occurred.

The charts below tell the story in detail, covering historic and estimated future emissions, how Australia compares with other countries, how much greenhouse gas the country exports, and how much longer Australia has left to get to zero emissions and meet the landmark Paris agreement targets.

They have been updated following the release of the quarterly update of Australia’s national greenhouse gas inventory on 25 August 2023.

How Australia compares to the world

Australia’s minimum emissions reduction target for 2030 has increased since the change of government, and how it compares with other developed countries. It remains behind most other similar countries.

2030 emissions pledges by jurisdiction

Shows the percentage reduction on 2005 emissions pledged by country or region, based on submissions to the UNFCCC. Australia's target includes land use change (LuluCF).

Per capita fossil fuel emissions by country

Countries are grouped into quantiles by the level of emissions per capita. Data is round to two decimal places

Worst – Saudi Arabia at 18.7 tons per person
2^nd Worst – Australia at 15.09 tons per person
3^rd Worst – Mongolia at 15.03 tons per person

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• The intergenerational report says climate is a ‘profound’ risk to Australia. But the full picture may be even worse

Climate change and the way the world responds to it “may be the most profound driver of change” for Australia’s economy over coming decades, according to the latest intergenerational report (IGR).

The report is easily the most comprehensive attempt to quantify risks and opportunities, with an entire chapter devoted to climate change and energy. There is a fivefold increase in references to “climate change” versus the 2021 IGR, a similar ratio for “disasters” and triple the naming of “renewable”.

And, as reported on Wednesday, Treasury sought to put a price on costs, such as a loss in productivity amounting to as much as $423bn out to 2063 and falls in crop yields and tourism. But most long-term predictions tend to be unreliable, and this IGR recognises the challenges for projecting global heating’s impacts.

“The future in relation to climate change is highly uncertain,” the report says. “The extent of future climate change, and the risks and opportunities emerging from it, will be affected by many unpredictable factors.”

Treasury notes “global policy cooperation” – read: meeting the 2015 Paris climate commitments to keep warming to “well below 2C” of pre-industrial times – is among the big unknowns.

It warns “as temperature increases approach 2C, the risk of crossing thresholds which cause nonlinear tipping points in the Earth system, with potentially abrupt and not yet well understood impacts, also increases”.

That reference underscores the difficulties in anticipating how different Australian lives will be four decades hence. The report bases its guesses on three scenarios: our planet keeps warming to sub-2C, sub-3C or more than 4C.

Planners assume a comforting gradual uptick in life expectancy, modest changes to taxes paid and a steady value of our terms of trade. Even defence outlays are flat, once they have been adjusted higher for rising “geo-strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific” (mostly from China).

If there are climate-related national security risks, they don’t get a mention. (Efforts to extract from the Office of National Intelligence have likewise proved futile so far.)

Treasury does take a stab at costing the increasing impacts from extreme weather events via its Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. Assuming the world is on a 3C warming path, cumulative spending on DRFA will be $130bn in today’s dollars, or 3-3.6 times current levels.

That assessment, however, only assesses four “natural hazards” – bushfires, tropical cyclones, floods and storms – as they presently receive the bulk of spending.

Drought and heatwaves – two perils facing Australia this summer as landscapes dry out and global temperatures nudge record annual levels – are excluded.

Also omitted from any mention (and the previous IGR) is the Great Barrier Reef. Tourism may take a hit in a warming world but at 1C more warming, not many coral reefs are going to make it, with devastating effects on ecosystems and their visitor appeal.

Australia has already warmed 1.47C since 1910, the Bureau of Meteorology estimates (with a +/- 0.24C margin of error).

“Over the next 40 years, under a scenario where global temperatures increase by up to 3C by 2100, Australia’s national average temperature is projected to increase by 1.7C,” the IGR says. Within that, averages in parts of central and northern Western Australia are projected to increase 1.8C, with Tasmania warming “by just 1.3C”, the IGR says.

A bit more in the link

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Extra

• South-east Australia marine heatwave forecast to be literally off the scale

Australia’s south-east is in for a marine heatwave that is literally off the scale, raising the prospect of significant losses in fishing and aquaculture.

The Bureau of Meteorology expects a patch of the Tasman Sea off Tasmania and Victoria will be at least 2.5C above average from September to February, and it could get much hotter than that.

Oceanographer Grant Smith said the colour-coded scale the bureau uses to map forecast sea surface temperature anomalies stops at 2.5C.

“We didn’t account for anomalies that high when we developed this ... it could be 3C, it could be 3.5C, but we can’t see how high it goes,” he said.

Smith cannot be sure that it is the first time forecast temperatures have gone beyond the scale’s upper limit but it is the first time he has seen it, and it is probably time to “add another notch”.

South-eastern Australia is a known climate change hotspot with its waters warming about four times faster than the global average.

“The east Australian current brings warm water south and then also the rising atmospheric temperature cooks it at the same time,” CSIRO research director Alistair Hobday said.

Working for Western Australia | Prime Minister of Australia

A few excerpts from the speech Anthony Albanese gave last week.......

Building the renewable energy infrastructure which will power growth north and south.

The clean, reliable energy that will enable us to grow export industries, in energy-intensive sectors, while still reducing our emissions.

Unlocking greater prosperity today – and investing in sustainability for tomorrow.

That’s a priority here in WA – and it’s an urgent task for the nation as a whole.

And friends, even as all this growth and modernisation in our region continues, the defining economic change of the next two decades – and beyond - is already underway.

The move to net zero, the embrace of clean energy and renewable technology and the global race to make green hydrogen work.

Our Government’s vision is for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower and an advanced manufacturing powerhouse – and so much of that depends on Western Australia.

And I know businesses in this room are already building new connections with economies that need these resources, nations seeking to industrialise and decarbonise at the same time.

Our Government has been focused on building a framework to support these efforts.

Forming new critical minerals and green hydrogen partnerships with India.

And new clean energy partnerships with the United States and Japan.

But while it is genuinely inspiring to point to technology changing the world and say that the lithium or the nickel or the rare earths it depends on, come from Australia.

In the years ahead, I want us to build on that. I want us to go beyond it.

I want us to be able to say that the next generation of batteries and charging technology and the innovations that will maximise their power and speed and capacity and efficiency, come from Australia.

Designed in Australia. Made in Australia.

The product of Australian skills and Australian workers and Australian research.

We shouldn’t settle for a role in the beginning and end of someone else’s story.

Instead, wherever possible, let’s work together to write our own.

From exploration and extraction, to innovation and commercialisation, to design and manufacturing.

Of course, we’re not the only country in the world thinking this way.

The United States, in particular, has embarked on massive investment in their industrial base.

But there’s a vital and inescapable difference between us and virtually every other country – we’re the ones with the raw materials.

According to a copy of the speech released by his office, Albanese announced a “ground breaking” new agreement between the federal and WA governments.

The “rewiring the nation” deal will provide up to $3bn to expand and modernise the electricity grids in the south west and north west of WA.

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• Climate crisis to create ‘acute’ challenges for Australia’s economy, incoming RBA governor says

Global heating will present the Reserve Bank with “acute” challenges, including heightened uncertainty around how the climate will change and the resulting impacts on the economy and financial system, the incoming governor, Michele Bullock, has said.

Bullock, now deputy RBA governor before her elevation to the top post on 18 September, used her Sir Leslie Melville lecture at the Australian National University on Tuesday – after a brief disruption from protesters - to detail how the central bank was preparing for a warming world and the increased risk of extreme weather events.

While monetary policy makers were familiar with dealing with supply shocks – such as Covid or Russia’s war on Ukraine – the potential for prolonged disruptions posed new challenges. On the other hand, there were also uncertainties about technology and the speed with which climate, economic and social systems could adapt.

“Climate change and the actions taken in response will have broad-ranging implications for the economy, the financial system and society at large,” Bullock said, including affecting price stability, employment and stability of the financial system.

“The timing and intensity of effects are uncertain, and these could be severe and irreversible if tipping points are reached,” she said.

Bullock’s comments echo some of the issues raised in the federal government’s Intergenerational Report released last Thursday that found climate change posed “profound” risks. Threats ranged from billions of dollars in lost productivity as high temperatures inhibit safe work to decreased crop yields and more costly disasters.

They also follow recent work by bank officials and researchers into the physical risks from a more chaotic climate but also the financial disruption and opportunities as the world shifts away from fossil fuels into renewables and other low-carbon industries.

“Unemployment could be persistently higher if people are unable or unwilling to leave a region that has suffered from extreme weather and related job losses,” Bullock said. “Climate impacts vary significantly across regions – an impact may be small in aggregate, but extreme for a local community.”

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• Too hot to handle: climate crisis report so secret Albanese government won’t even reveal date it was completed

The Australian government is refusing to release its secret report on how the climate crisis will fuel national security threats and is also refusing to say when it was completed.

The government insists the date, too, is classified. The approach has sparked claims of a “cult of secrecy in Canberra”.

Anthony Albanese ordered the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) last year to investigate national security threats posed by global heating, in line with an election promise.

When it notified the United Nations of Australia’s stronger 2030 emissions reduction target, the government trumpeted its commitment to “an urgent climate risk assessment of the implications of climate change for national security”.

So far, however, the government has rebuffed calls to release the assessment – or even a sanitised public version, as it did with the defence strategic review.

In a new response to Senate questions on notice, the prime minister confirmed the ONI’s climate assessment was finalised “within the last 12 months”. But Albanese added: “The specific timing of the assessment board is classified.”

Five other questions from the Greens’ defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, were answered with an identical response: “The content and judgments of the assessment are classified.”

Shoebridge also asked the direct question: “Will the government make a declassified version of the assessment public? If not, why not?”

Albanese responded that the report “contains classified material” but the government continued to consider the issue.

“Along with the government’s climate statement, tabled in parliament on 1 December 2022, there is already considerable material available in the public domain discussing national security threats from climate change,” he said.

A single page of that 80-page climate statement was devoted to national security, saying global heating would “increasingly exacerbate risks” as “geopolitical tensions mount about how to respond”.

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• Hot El Nino summer brings ‘elevated’ risk of power blackouts to eastern Australia, operator warns

Eastern Australia requires “imminent and urgent investment” in energy to bolster the reliability of the electricity grid, the Australian Energy Market Operator says, as it warns of the risk of outages in Victoria and South Australia this summer.

The challenges are detailed in an Aemo report, released on Thursday, which says the grid may come under strain even with 3.4 gigawatts of new generation and storage capacity added to the national electricity market compared with last summer.

“We’re expecting an elevated level of risk this summer compared with recent years, mostly due to hotter and drier conditions, and lower levels of reliability from our coal-fired generators,” Aemo’s chief executive, Daniel Westerman, said.

“The entire industry is focused on managing the risks in the summer ahead, particularly during high-demand periods coupled with generation outages and low renewable output, but some risk will remain.”

The past three summers have been dominated by La Niña weather patterns that brought more rainfall and fewer heatwaves.

But with an El Niño set to develop and last through the coming summer, power demand is forecast to reach “the upper end of the forecast range” in most regions. Bushfires may also affect transmission.

A slowdown in clean energy investment approvals has stoked concerns about the transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Delays for projects such as the Marinus link between Tasmania and the mainland and Snowy Hydro’s 2.0 pumped hydro project – reported now to cost as much as $12bn – have added to fears.

The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, declined to confirm the $12bn figure, saying the government would “take a little bit of time to work through” Snowy’s revised costings.

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• Australia headed for hot and dry spring after unseasonably warm winter

Almost all of Australia will experience unusually warm temperatures and lower than average rainfall this spring, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The bureau’s outlook for spring reveals that while an El Niño has not been formally declared, the climate will still be drier and hotter than usual.

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“After what looks to be our warmest winter on record, spring is also likely to bring warmer days and reduced rainfall,” said the bureau’s senior climatologist, Lynette Bettio.

“Most of the country has a high chance of daytime temperatures that are warmer than usual, this spring. There’s an increased chance of unusually warm days for almost all areas, especially in Western Australia and parts of the south east.”

Bettio said winter rainfall was about 8% below average with warmer temperatures reported everywhere apart from the south-east of Western Australia. The national mean temperature was about 1.5C higher than average.

This spring will be very different to last year, according to Bettio, who said the 2022 season was “the second wettest on record”.

“The first rains of northern Australia’s wet season are likely to be lighter than normal, especially for the Northern Territory and Queensland,” she said.

Last week, the Australasian Fire Authorities Council urged communities to prepare for what is likely to be the most significant bushfire season since the 2019-20 black summer fires.

Large swathes of Australia are likely to experience an “increased risk” of bushfires due to forecasts of above-average temperatures, decreased rainfall, high fuel loads and changing weather patterns.

There is a chance of a higher number of bushfires occurring that require pre-emptive management and firefighting compared with the average. Areas at increased risk include regions in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Bettio said Australia’s water storages were close to 80% full with many close to 90%. But she said some were now dropping below 50% and were likely to drop further.

While the World Meteorological Organization and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have already said an El Niño is in place, the bureau has remained at alert level.

El Niño is characterised by high ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific that weaken the east to west trade winds that blow over the ocean. This climate pattern can drive droughts and heat in Australia, and can push up global temperatures.

“We remain at El Niño alert as it is likely an El Niño will develop this year,” Bettio said. “Sea surface temperatures are forecast to keep warming above El Niño levels.”

“July was the warmest month on record globally when including land and ocean temperatures. We know that a warmer climate increases the risk of extreme weather like heat waves.”

1^st of 2

• Australia has highest per capita CO2 emissions from coal in G20, analysis finds

Australia still emits more greenhouse gas from burning coal on a per capita basis than other G20 countries despite a significant rise in solar and wind energy.

While Australia and South Korea have cut per person emissions from coal-fired electricity since 2015 – by 26% and 10% respectively – they continue to release more CO2 than other major economies, according to an analysis by the energy thinktank Ember.

China – the world’s biggest annual emitter in absolute terms – ranks third after its per capita emissions from coal power rose by 30% over seven years due to its growth in electricity use outpacing its growth in zero-emissions generation. It has installed 670 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity - about a third of the world’s solar and wind – since 2015.

The Ember analysis, released before a G20 leaders’ summit in India starting on Saturday, said Australia used twice as much electricity as China on a per capita basis, and 48% of it came from coal plants.

It was down from 64% in 2015 after an influx of solar and wind energy. But Australia’s per capita emissions from coal last year were more than four times the global average.

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• Australia’s export of fossil fuels like selling drugs to ‘maintain’ lifestyle, former top fire chief says

The former New South Wales fire chief Greg Mullins has accused the Albanese government of an “incomprehensible” decision to continue approving new coalmines despite accepting global heating is adding to bushfire risk.

In an interview on Tuesday, Mullins – a member of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action group – likened Australia’s continued export of fossil fuels to selling drugs, after he delivered a briefing to the crossbench about the coming bushfire season.

Mullins, the Greens and independent MPs including Sophie Scamps are calling for more decisive action on global heating, including tearing up fossil fuel subsidies.

The International Monetary Fund recently calculated fossil fuels cost the Australian budget $65bn a year – although most of the cost ($55.6bn) is indirect subsidies for failing to recoup the environmental and health costs from polluters.

Earlier in September, the federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, approved an expansion of the Gregory Crinum coalmine in central Queensland, which produces metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.

Coalmine expansions and developments approved in Australia so far this year are expected to add nearly 150m tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere over their lifetimes.

Climate scientists and bushfire experts have warned the country faces an elevated risk of bushfires this spring and summer compared with the past three wet years, with a predicted El Niño likely to deliver drier and hotter conditions.

Mullins said a degree of warming was “baked into the system … until 2050” but what happened after was “entirely reliant” on what the government does to reduce emissions today.

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• NSW to enter talks to extend life of Eraring, Australia’s largest coal-fired power station

The Minns government will “engage” with the owner of Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station for a “temporary” extension of its operating life, prioritising short-term energy security over emissions reductions.

A final cost and length of extending operations of the 2,880-megawatt Eraring power plant near Newcastle would hinge on negotiations with owner Origin Energy, the government said on Tuesday.

Origin declared in February 2022 that it planned to close Eraring in August 2025 and has said it needs to spend as much as $250m a year on equipment and repairs alone to keep it operating. The company bought it for $50m from the Coalition government in 2013.

“NSW has no time to waste as coal-fired power retires and needs to be replaced by renewable generation, transmission and storage,” Penny Sharpe, energy minister, said.

The team found New South Wales wasn’t likely to have enough renewable energy generation and storage in place in time to counter the exit of fossil-fuelled power stations.

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• NSW soon to decide on Eraring extension but former treasurer says it could cost billions

The New South Wales government would have had to pay Origin Energy as much as $3bn to keep just half of its 2,880-megawatt Eraring plant near Newcastle open for two years, former energy minister and treasurer Matt Kean said on Monday.

“Origin wanted us to take the full risk of the inputs and sell back [electricity] at a fixed cost. They’d take no risk,” he told Guardian Australia. “It was the worst deal ever.”

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Australian snow report: several resorts to close early in poor 2023 season

Aussie ski areas to close Monday in one of the 'earliest ever closures'

It has been a poor snow season in Australia after the country's warmest winter on record, with several ski areas set to close much earlier than usual this coming Monday, September 4.

Australia's largest and most popular ski resort Perisher announced on Saturday that it would close the Blue Cow and Guthega areas of the resort after this weekend, having already closed Smiggin Holes earlier this week, leaving just the Perisher Valley area open.

Perisher consists of four distinct areas - Blue Cow, Guthega, Smiggin Holes and Perisher - with one local commenting on leading snow industry website ski.com.au that it was "the earliest ever closure of Blue Cow except for COVID years".

Meanwhile, at least two other Australian resorts will be closed for skiing and snowboarding from Monday, including Mt Baw Baw in Victoria, and Selwyn Snow Resort in New South Wales.

These two resorts are the lowest ski resorts in mainland Australia and have suffered worse than higher resorts from lack of snow in the meagre 2023 snow season.

Selwyn closed in early August, reopened briefly after a moderate snowfall, then closed again and hasn't reopened, while Baw Baw has struggled along with just one lift open for the last week, but the last few patches of man-made snow are now rapidly turning to mud, as you can see in the image above.

Traditionally, Australian ski resorts try to stay open until the first weekend in October, and while Perisher says it aims to make it through until then, the warm early spring weather predicted by the BoM may have the final say.

Indeed, September is often the time of year with the deepest snowpack, as it was in 2022 when the heaviest depth of the season at Spencers Creek in NSW - roughly halfway between Perisher and Thredbo - was 232cm on September 20.

• David Littleproud faces push at National party conference to dump net zero commitment

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, will face a concerted push at the federal conference of the party this weekend to dump its commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Guardian Australia has obtained a copy of a motion submitted by Barnaby Joyce’s federal electorate council in New England that calls on the Nationals parliamentary party room to “abolish its policy of net zero by 2050, and adopt a policy that will reduce Australia’s CO2 emissions in collaboration with the rest of the world”.

The new motion – which some party sources interpret as a strategic strike intended to destabilise Littleproud’s leadership – has alarmed moderate Liberals because the Nationals abandoning net zero would reopen an acrimonious internal Coalition discussion about climate policy.

As well as dumping net zero, the new motion championed by the New England FEC also calls on the Nationals party room to “ensure that any policies relating to CO2 emissions do not negatively affect on-farm production of food and fibre”.

The conference push from Joyce’s party organisation in New England is ironic given the Nationals’ official commitment to the net zero target was actually settled while Joyce was party leader.

The Nationals agreed to net zero in October 2021 after the prime minister at the time, Scott Morrison, made it clear ahead of UN-led climate talks in Glasgow that he wanted that target to be government policy.

Joyce made it clear during a Nationals party room discussion to settle the policy commitment that he did not support net zero. But a majority of his colleagues – including Littleproud – did. In National party terms, Littleproud, historically, has been significantly more progressive on the climate transition than Joyce.

Some Nationals believe the insurrection is likely to succeed at the weekend, although the motion is unlikely to be backed by conference delegates from Western Australia and Victoria.

Joyce told Guardian Australia the motion “did not come from me”. But he also acknowledged he was “pleased they’re having the discussion.”

Joyce said he would express a view on the motion at the Nationals’ conference “but right now in New England and many parts of Australia, the biggest issue I’m getting run over with is transmission lines, the diminution of value of people’s properties and ... being surrounded by a new industrial park”.

“We seem to be wearing this: the transmission lines, the windfarms and solar factories in New England,” he said. “Everywhere else gets to feel virtuous, but we get completely run over with the impediments. You don’t hear any proposals to put wind and solar factories in [Sydney’s] North Head or Middle Head or transmission lines in Sydney or off the beaches. It wouldn’t be tolerated, understandably.”

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• Coalition won't be departing from net zero: Dutton

Peter Dutton has rejected a National Party push to abandon a commitment to net-zero emissions.

The Nationals will debate net-zero targets at a conference this weekend after members raised concerns about the impact the climate and energy policy would have on rural communities.

The party committed to net-zero emissions by 2050 when the coalition was in government in exchange for a multi-billion dollar regional fund.

But Barnaby Joyce, who was leader of the Nationals when the deal was done, this week labelled the estimated cost of net zero "completely and utterly untenable" and said people were turning against the policy.

"The sentiment towards this renewable nirvana is completely and utterly changing. The battle will be lost over time," Mr Joyce said.

However, Mr Dutton maintained there was strong support for net zero.

"I've recommitted to it, we won't be departing from it," he told ABC Radio on Friday.

"The support - maybe five years ago, or even two years ago that wasn't there - is strongly there now, particularly with younger people."

The opposition leader criticised the NSW Labor government for extending its coal-fired power agreements and pointed to potential alternatives.

He said nuclear technology would be able to "firm up" renewable sources like wind, solar and battery power.

"We would have a credible pathway to our emissions commitments, and that would be in our country's best interests," he said.

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• NSW Labor’s tough talk on Eraring undermined by boost to coal royalties

Daniel Mookhey, the New South Wales treasurer, has issued “a very clear” warning to the owners of Australia’s biggest power station, Origin Energy.

“Origin will feel the wrath of the people in NSW if they use [negotiations over the future of its Eraring power station] as an opportunity to game the system,” Mookhey said on Wednesday. “Origin should expect this government to engage with them in a pretty tough manner.”

The fighting words come a day after the Minns government released an independent report into NSW’s energy security. The government accepted a key recommendation by the report’s author, Cameron O’Reilly, to start talks with Origin about a possible extension of the 2,880MW Eraring plant now slated to close in August 2025.

However, Mookhey’s ability to drive a hard bargain was undermined by a separate decision, announced Wednesday, to raise an extra $2.7bn in coal royalties over four years. To soften the blow to miners, the government will scrap a price cap on coal from July, making it more likely Origin will demand support to keep Eraring’s turbines turning.

A NSW department official said the government doesn’t expect the end of the $125/tonne cap to influence Origin’s decision, in part because coal only sets prices in the wholesale electricity market a “minority” of the time.

But one industry insider said every intervention altered the behaviour of market players. Coal prices were a “material X-factor” for Eraring and making the fuel more expensive would inevitably affect the underlying competitiveness of a plant that provides more than one-fifth of NSW’s power.

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• Top Aussie Scientists Applaud Draft National Research Priorities

The Australian Academy of Science welcomes the release of the Australian Government's draft national science and research priorities.

President of the Australian Academy of Science Professor Chennupati Jagadish said that to shape our future it is crucial that Australia strategically identifies and invests in sovereign science capabilities.

"We must focus and scale up our effort to build or maintain comparative advantage and to address scientific matters unique to Australia," Professor Jagadish said.

"To be effective, priorities need us to make choices, unite Australian scientists, and concentrate resources around ambitious missions or grand challenges.

"The new priorities align with some of the main challenges facing the nation-moving to a net zero future, adapting to a changing climate, building an innovative economy and healthier communities-and they cut across traditional disciplines.

"Setting these directions is a solid start. However, it is imperative that the final priorities be backed by a robust implementation plan that clarifies how the Australian scientific ecosystem-scientists, institutions, funders and enablers-will incorporate the new priorities in their work.

"Previous science and research priorities were not effective because they were lacking in implementation, monitoring and evaluation and therefore did little to focus and scale up science in the identified areas.

"It is important that these priorities are implemented through investment-led schemes across government, while leaving investigator-led schemes focused on the free pursuit of knowledge.

"We need both, and both can be achieved with a carefully designed implementation plan," Professor Jagadish said.

The Academy thanks Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley AO PSM FAA FTSE for consulting widely and leading the national conversation on behalf of the government to inform this work.

The Academy looks forward to contributing to the upcoming consultation.

Australia’s leading scientists welcome draft national science and research priorities | Australian Academy of Science

part 1 of 2

• “They’re gone:” Labor bins Kyoto carryover credits, shuts carbon accounting loophole

Federal Labor has binned hundreds of millions of Kyoto “carryover” carbon credits, permanently removing the option for them to be used in to shrink Australia’s emissions reduction task and shirk its climate responsibilities.

Federal energy and climate minister Cris Bowen announced the move on Friday, day two of the 10th Australasian Emissions Reduction Summit in Sydney, and confirmed it in person at the event.

“My colleague, assistant minister Jenny McAllister, has signed the instruction which cancels them, they’re gone,” he told the summit on Friday morning.

Australia’s surplus Kyoto credits, which had amassed to more than 700 million, have for years been a blight on Australia’s climate efforts, even when those efforts themselves amounted to the better part of nothing at all.

In 2019, the Morrison Coalition government had sought to use the credits, created under the Kyoto Protocol through soft targets and convenient accounting loopholes, to further minimise its already paltry climate mitigation efforts.

As RenewEconomy reported at the time, a large chunk of the negotiations at the COP25 talks in Madrid were spent debating the issue of surplus emissions permits leftover from the Kyoto Protocol – and the efforts of certain countries to keep and use them as the world transitioned to the Paris Agreement.

“They’re gone:” Labor bins Kyoto carryover credits, shuts carbon accounting loophole

Federal Labor has binned hundreds of millions of Kyoto “carryover” carbon credits, permanently removing the option for them to be used in to shrink Australia’s emissions reduction task and shirk its climate responsibilities.

Federal energy and climate minister Cris Bowen announced the move on Friday, day two of the 10th Australasian Emissions Reduction Summit in Sydney, and confirmed it in person at the event.

“My colleague, assistant minister Jenny McAllister, has signed the instruction which cancels them, they’re gone,” he told the summit on Friday morning.

Australia’s surplus Kyoto credits, which had amassed to more than 700 million, have for years been a blight on Australia’s climate efforts, even when those efforts themselves amounted to the better part of nothing at all.

In 2019, the Morrison Coalition government had sought to use the credits, created under the Kyoto Protocol through soft targets and convenient accounting loopholes, to further minimise its already paltry climate mitigation efforts.

As RenewEconomy reported at the time, a large chunk of the negotiations at the COP25 talks in Madrid were spent debating the issue of surplus emissions permits leftover from the Kyoto Protocol – and the efforts of certain countries to keep and use them as the world transitioned to the Paris Agreement.

Analysis from Climate Analytics had estimated that if the surplus units were carried over and used against countries’ 2030 emissions reduction pledges, they could reduce global ambition by as much as 25 per cent.

As Bowen noted on Friday, the Albanese government had no intention of using the carryover credits, but has now moved to cancel them so future governments could not go down that path.

“Without this strong action, more than 700 million credits – representing more than a year’s worth of national emissions, could have been used in dodgy accounting in years to come,” he said.

“We can’t trust the coalition to do the right thing if they were ever to get into government again. Lured by dodgy accounting tricks rather than genuine abatement.”

No carbon price

Speaking to Fran Kelly in a Q&A after his speech at the emissions summit Bowen once again ruled out the implementation of an economy-wide carbon price, arguing this would be a policy step backwards for Australia.

“We certainly won’t be introducing anything like an economy wide carbon price,” he said.

“Australia is the only country that’s done it and then repealed it in the world …So you’re reigniting the climate wars if you do that, I think – and the times have changed.

“The price signals about renewable energy are a lot different in 2023 than they were in 2009. So that’s why we’ve gone down the sectoral approach.”

We need carbon credits

But Bowen also stressed the need for carbon offsets and for integrity in crediting “real carbon abatement” as Australia races to meet 2030 emissions reduction targets.

“The ACCU scheme must deliver real and additional abatement that contributes to our legislated emissions reduction targets under the Paris Agreement,” he said.

“It is not a charity to reward landholders for good land management, but a scheme to drive activity that would not otherwise occur.

“With our Safeguard Reforms having commenced on July 1, ACCUs are a key tool for industry in hard-to-abate sectors to contribute to the over 200 million tonnes of abatement required by the reforms to 2030.

“The Chubb Review concluded that the scheme has the necessary integrity, but some important changes are needed to improve it.”

Speaking at the summit on Thursday, Carbon Market Institute CEO John Connor, too, made the case for the key role carbon credits have to play in the global climate effort – a role he said was becoming increasingly misunderstood.

“I support efforts to give greater integrity to carbon crediting mechanisms, but they are not the enemy,” he said.

“We should not conflate inadequate decarbonisation strategies with the work to improve carbon crediting regimes and markets.”


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• How Mark McGowan pressured the EPA boss to remove WA'''s tough emissions targets in one brief phone call

Western Australia's former environmental protection chief has made the "extraordinary" claim that the previous premier Mark McGowan pressured him to withdraw tough new emissions guidelines.

The then-head of the independent Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Dr Tom Hatton, has disclosed to the ABC never-before-told details of what he described as a political intervention "unprecedented" in the 50-year history of the agency.

It all started in early 2019, when Dr Hatton and his board tried to put the state's biggest emitters on a path to net zero.

Western Australia's emissions were rising at an alarming rate.

It was the only state in the country to have clocked an increase in carbon output since nations around the globe signed onto the Kyoto Protocol in 2005.

Watching a lack of effective policy at a federal level but also at home, Dr Hatton said he and his fellow EPA board members saw the challenge as urgent.

"I think we were the only jurisdiction in Australia at the time without even an aspirational state reduction target and the state's emissions were going up more than any other jurisdiction in Australia," Dr Hatton said.

The agency started consulting with lobby groups representing the big resource companies and the environment on how to tackle the problem.

Premier 'made it very clear'

But the EPA wasn't prepared for the massive industry backlash its guidance would trigger, nor that it would culminate in a phone call and an extraordinary request from the most powerful man in the state, Mark McGowan.

"It wasn't a very long phone call. It was a very direct, very straightforward request that he did not want us to continue with those guidelines and wanted us to withdraw them," Dr Hatton told the ABC.

"He made it very clear that he didn't feel that consultation was sufficient within industry, and he asked us to withdraw the guidelines.

The article is much longer with video

Part 2 of 2

• Liberals try to undermine renewable energy

A) The government’s rush towards 82% renewable energy could expose Australia to unnecessary national security risks due to a dependence on imported solar panel components from China;

B) That an analysis, led by the shadow minister for home affairs and cyber security, Senator James Paterson, uncovered exploitable flaws and vulnerabilities in smart inverters which accompany many Australian solar photovoltaic systems;

C) That almost 60% of installed smart inverters are being supplied by Chinese manufacturers bound by China’s national intelligence laws, which could require companies to be ordered by Beijing to sabotage, survey or disrupt power supplies to Australian homes, companies or government.

https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo...truct:billhome

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• Emissions targets not enough as World Heritage Committee call on Great Barrier Reef looms
  

Advocates are calling for increased targets of emissions reduction in Australia and Queensland, as a decision over whether to grant more time to demonstrate enough has been done to protect the status of the Great Barrier Reef looms.

A World Heritage Committee meeting in Saudi Arabia is set to consider whether to give Australia until February 2024 to show that enough action has been taken to deal with the long-term outlook of the natural site.

Endorsement of the proposal will mean a final decision about whether to place the Reef on the ‘in danger’ list will be paused until next year.

Environmental campaigner Cherry Muddle from the Australian Marine Conservation Society warned that El Niño predictions had placed a higher risk of marine heatwaves and coral bleaching in the reef.

“Australia’s protection of the Reef has been in the global spotlight for the past decade, under the scrutiny of the global community, including UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee.

“The Great Barrier Reef faces the fight of its life, a fight that is set to get harder with climate change,” she said.

UNESCO recently published a draft conservation report with 22 recommendations, noting some new measures to protect the reef following the election of the Albanese Labor government.

The report also underscored serious concerns about whether enough had been done to address the threat of poor water quality, unsustainable resource use, and climate change posed to the reef.

Among the recommendations for change, Muddle highlighted advice to the Australian government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, end tree-clearing in reef catchments, and restore coastal wetlands.

“Climate change remains the greatest threat to the reef. Both the Australian and Queensland governments must urgently cut fossil fuel emissions to protect the reef to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius — a critical threshold for coral reefs,” Muddle said.

Related

Tanya Plibersek - We’ve just heard that the United Nations committee responsible for World Heritage has confirmed the Great Barrier Reef will not be listed as in danger. Our government has wasted no time acting on climate change and better protecting our precious Reef - and the world has noticed.

This is great news, but of course there’s still more to do. That’s what we’re focused on. https://twitter.com/tanya_plibersek/...58304996479322

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• Strategy urged to deal with climate security threat

The federal government has been urged to come up with a strategy to deal with social tension, conflict and people fleeing their homes as the climate changes.

A group of former defence and security officials, including former defence force chief Admiral Chris Barrie, wants the government to develop a National Climate Security Strategy.

"Climate change now poses the greatest threat to our security and the government should be engaging the electorate to build understanding of climate risks and how to respond," Admiral Barrie said.

"Instead, the government has a strategy of non-engagement when it comes to the most significant threat to our future. That is a fatal mistake."

Admiral Barrie said the world was facing severe climate events and increasing food and water insecurity.

"The government's lack of focus increases the risks of economic and supply chain disruption, social tensions, conflict and people displacement in our region becoming the norm," he said.

In parliament on Wednesday, independent MP Kate Chaney asked Defence Minister Richard Marles how the government planned to respond.

Mr Marles said climate change was a critically important issue for defence planning and strategy.

"I do accept that the pressures of climate change will give rise to a more complex and volatile strategic landscape," he said.

"So we will need to be very mindful of the way in which we posture ourselves in respect of that."

He noted it had been an issue for the defence strategic review released in April.

The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group's call for a strategy followed a successful push for a national climate risk assessment.

But the group is concerned the government has not made public a declassified version of the climate-security risk assessment completed by the Office of National Intelligence in 2022.

Retired Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn, a former RAAF deputy chief, said the release of the assessment would go a long way to informing the public and parliamentarians about the "greatest threat to our nation and people".

"How can we expect our decision-makers to act in the nation's best interest when the government is deliberately keeping us all in the dark?" he said.

The group argues the national strategy should involve setting up an Office of Climate Threat Intelligence within the Office of National Intelligence, with an annual briefing to parliament.

As well, the climate science, risk analysis and policy-making capacities of the public service, CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology needed to be rebuilt.

related

Government stands firm on keeping climate security risk assessment secret

Defence minister Richard Marles is not in the chamber to hear this debate, leaving it to climate change minister Chris Bowen to respond.

Bowen says the government will not support the motion, and says no national security report like this has been released “ever” and the government will “respect that precedent”.

So, no report will be forthcoming, declassified or not.

Part 1 of 2

• Environment Minister and coal mining companies taken to court

Australia’s Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and two coal mining companies are being taken to the Federal Court today over their failure to protect Australia’s living wonders from climate harm.

The Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ), represented by Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), is seeking judicial review of the Minister’s climate risk assessment of two giant coal mines in NSW.

The two proceedings, in Melbourne, are the first court challenges to a coal or gas decision made by Australia’s current Environment Minister and the outcome of the cases is likely to affect all pending coal and gas decisions on the Minister’s desk.

Mining companies, Narrabri Coal Operations (a subsidiary of Whitehaven Coal) and MACH Energy, have joined the proceedings and are defending the Environment Minister’s refusal to act on the scientific evidence of climate risk.

Drug dealer’s defence

Court documents submitted by ECoCeQ say the companies and the Minister will rely on the ‘drug dealer’s defence’: if we didn’t supply the coal, another mine would.

The case comes after the world marked its hottest month on record in July and the UN secretary general, António Guterres warned ‘the era of global boiling has arrived.’

President of the Environment Council of Central Queensland, Christine Carlisle said it was hoped it wouldn’t come to this. ‘Now, we’re relieved these climate cases are now before the Court. We’re doing this because we’re so tired of the sound bites. So tired of photos of ministers posing with koalas, saying all the right things but failing to act.

‘The science could not be clearer. It’s time for our environment minister to step up and act on climate risk.’

‘The Minister’s decision to refuse to act on the climate science is not only, we argue, legally wrong, but feels like a betrayal to the Australians who voted in favour of climate action.’

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• Replacing Australia’s retiring coal power stations with small nuclear reactors could cost $387bn, analysis suggests

The federal government says it would cost as much as $387bn to replace Australia’s retiring coal-fired power stations with the form of nuclear power proposed by the Coalition.

The figure, produced by the energy department, is the projected cost of replacing all of the output from closing coal-fired plants with small modular reactors.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has previously suggested that Australia “could convert or repurpose coal-fired plants and use the transmission connections which already exist on those sites”.

The government said the new analysis showed a minimum of 71 small modular reactors – providing 300MW each – would be needed if the policy were to fully replace the 21.3GW output of Australia’s retiring coal fleet.

“According to the 2022-23 GenCost report modelling under the current policies scenario, this could cost $387bn,” a government summary said.

“This is due to the estimated capital cost of $18,167/kW for [small modular reactors] in 2030, compared to large scale solar at just $1,058/kW, and onshore wind at $1,989/kW.”

The government said this would represent “a whopping $25,000 cost impost on each Australian taxpayer”.

The minister for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen, said the opposition wanted to promote the benefits of “non-commercial” small modular reactor technology “without owning up to the cost and how they intend to pay for it”.

“Peter Dutton and the opposition need to explain why Australians will be slugged with a $387bn cost burden for a nuclear energy plan that flies in the face of economics and reason,” Bowen said.

“After nine years of energy policy chaos, rather than finally embracing a clean, cheap, safe and secure renewable future, all the Coalition can promise is a multi-bullion-dollar nuclear-flavoured energy policy.”

Bowen added he saw no future in Australia where nuclear energy formed part of the electricity mix, urging the opposition to “put up” the figures backing their proposal or “shut up”.

“I can’t think of a worse fit, a worse fit for Australia’s energy needs than nuclear power. It’s slow to build, it’s not flexible, generates a lot of nuclear waste,” he said on Monday.

“Anybody who is serious about Australia’s capacity to harness our massive renewable energy resources knows that firmed renewables, with the appropriate support through firming, is the way to go for Australia.”

The federal government has set a goal of 82% of electricity coming from renewable energy by 2030, up from about 35% today.

To achieve this, the federal government has committed $20bn in low-cost finance for “rewiring the nation” – updating transmission lines – but is facing pushbacks from rural communities.

related

Energy minister Chris Bowen has ruled out nuclear energy being a part of Australia’s future energy mix, saying he couldn’t think of a worse addition to the grid.

The federal government released figures on Monday showing it would cost as much as $387bn to replace Australia’s retiring coal-fired power stations with the Coalition’s proposed form of nuclear power.

When asked whether Bowen would rule out considering nuclear energy as part of the energy mix in the coming decades, he responded:

No, it won’t be part of Australia ... I can’t think of a worse fit, a worse fit, for Australia’s energy needs than nuclear power. It’s slow to build. It’s not flexible, generates a lot of nuclear waste ... anybody who is serious about Australia’s capacity to harness our massive renewable energy resources, knows that firmed renewables is the appropriate support for firming is the way to go to Australia.

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• Australia should wipe out climate footprint by 2035 instead of 2050, scientists urge

Australian engineers and technology scientists have urged the Albanese government to “make up for lost time” and set itself a “monumental challenge” by setting a target to wipe out the country’s climate footprint by 2035 – 15 years earlier than currently proposed.

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, representing nearly 900 leading engineers and scientists, called on the government to set a goal of reaching net zero emissions in just 12 years, arguing it could be achieved with existing mature, low-carbon technology.

The Australian government was not offered a speaking slot at a UN climate ambition summit in New York overnight on Wednesday after it did not put forward a significant new pledge to act on the issue. Thirty-four countries were listed to address the summit, but leaders of some of the world’s biggest polluting countries skipped the event.

The director of Solutions for Climate Australia, Dr Barry Traill, said dozens of countries had put up new pledges but Australia was missing.

“We are the world’s second largest exporter of coal and the second largest exporter of liquified gas. Since the federal election the Albanese government has approved four new mines and there are 100-plus new projects in the approval line,” he said.

“In order for Australians to face a less dangerous climate we need every nation on Earth to do their share. Why would they do theirs if we do not do ours?”

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, told CNN in New York that Australia had a fossil fuel intensive economy and the government’s message was that it was “genuinely motivated to change that, and that’s what we’re working on”.

“We have a very ambitious set of targets. We will be, by 2030, in excess of 80% renewable energy … that’s a big transition in a short space of time,” she said.

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering statement said immediate and substantial action was needed to keep alive the chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

It said setting a more ambitious target – the current goal is to reach net zero by 2050 – would drive technological change and spur a massive boost in clean investment across the country.

The academy’s president, Dr Katherine Woodthorpe, said there was an economic opportunity that Australia was not doing enough to grasp.

“That’s really how I see this. There is an opportunity, let’s make the most of it, let’s not squander it,” she said. “Meeting this target will be a monumental challenge, but with immediate and large-scale action to invest in skills and infrastructure, as well as political, policy and regulatory support at all levels, it is achievable.”

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• ‘Missing half the equation’: scientists criticise Australia over approach to fossil fuels

The Australian government is “missing half the equation” in acting on the climate crisis by backing a shift to renewable energy but having no plan to get out of fossil fuels, according to an author of a new scientific review.

Prof Lesley Hughes is a leading climate change scientist and member of the independent Climate Council and government advisory body the Climate Change Authority. Hughes said there is a “cognitive dissonance” between Labor’s stated commitment to addressing the problem and the pace at which it is moving.

The dissonance is most clear in it subsidising or approving new and expanded fossil fuel developments while arguing it supports trying to limit global heating to 1.5C – a goal agreed at UN climate conferences.

“The two things are completely at odds with each other,” she said.

Hughes is the co-author of a Climate Council review, released on Wednesday, which found Australia should be cutting national carbon dioxide emissions by 75% by 2030. The government’s legislated target is a minimum 43% cut (compared with 2005 levels).

The report said the country should be aiming to reach net zero emissions by 2035 – much sooner than the current 2050 goal. The finding is broadly consistent with other analyses that have found Australia should be moving more rapidly.

The review pointed to evidence that if emissions from the land and forestry were excluded, national emissions from the rest of the economy – mainly fossil fuel industries – have fallen less than 1% since 2005.

The Coalition and some media outlets have argued the country should back nuclear energy, a step that would further delay action on the climate crisis as the technology they are calling for – small modular reactors – do not commercially exist.

CSIRO says there are only two SMRs in the world – in Russia and China – and both were delayed and faced substantial cost blow outs.

The Coalition is yet to release a nuclear energy policy, but has claimed SMRs could be built on the site of existing coal plants. The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, argued this could cost $387bn.

Nuclear energy is banned in Australia under laws introduced by the Howard government. The Australian Energy Market Operator has found an optimal electricity grid would overwhelmingly run on renewable energy backed by a range of existing “firm” sources that could be called on when needed.

‘We could be a model’

The Climate Council report said pollution from electricity has started to fall as solar and wind energy has replaced generation at coal power plants – 40% of electricity in the eastern states came from renewables over the past month – but emissions from transport and major industry have continued to increase.

Turning this around would require deep cuts across the board. That would not be possible while new coal and gas operations were allowed to open and rely on “false solutions” such as carbon offsets to claim they are not adding to emissions, it said.

“Until there’s a plan to just have a transition to renewables and not out of fossil fuels we are missing half the equation,” Hughes said.

The report said the benefits for Australians of cutting emissions rapidly this decade include cleaner air, better mental health, more affordable and reliable energy and the creation of climate-focused jobs that could strengthen the economy.

On the current trajectory global heating would be expected to exceed 2C by the end of the century, a scenario that could lead to the large-scale collapse of marine ecosystems, up to 250,000 Australian properties being at risk of coastal inundation, deadlier heatwaves, worsening bushfire conditions, abrupt shifts in rainfall patterns and the collapse of food systems.

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• Interview with Christiane Amanpour, CNN

Amanpour: And climate change, we've heard many here. You, we've heard the secretary-general. I mean, we're pretty much this close to midnight, to coin a phrase. You have said climate is the number one national security issue for the Pacific. You visited many times, the Solomon Islands, you know, all sorts of areas. And yet, the government is expanding coal mining this year. A new one opened in May, facing legal action from green groups this week. Can you honestly say that your record on climate is in the right direction?

Foreign Minister: Look, Australia has been a very fossil fuel intensive economy. I mean, that is a reality. And so, part of what we are having to do is to transition, you know, a very carbon intensive economy to a clean energy economy, and that is a big task. And in many ways, it reflects the task that the global economy has to engage in. Because, of course, there are still many nations who are opening new coal fire powered stations who are going down that path. So, you know, we have a very ambitious set of targets. We will be, by 2030, in excess of 80 percent renewable energy. When we came to government, we were just over 30 percent. That's a big transition in a short space of time.

So, what I say to the Pacific, and I have visited every member of the Pacific Islands Forum, is I say, look, we recognize our history and nature of our economy, what I can say to you is we are genuinely motivated to change that. And that's what we're working on.

https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/m...e-amanpour-cnn

part 2 of 2

• Australian governments need to set clear policy direction for gas sector, says regulator

The Australian Energy Regulator says it will be up to governments to “set clear policy direction” for the gas sector as more households ditch the fossil fuel, and bans on new connections spread from Victoria to other jurisdictions.

The AER in June set a $220 standard fee for Victorian households to disconnect from gas in its 2023-28 access agreement. New South Wales is next up, with a decision on its pricing due before next June, with those for the ACT and South Australia to follow a year later.

Actual costs for permanent gas abolition range between $800 and $1,200 per household, and the regulator noted the $220 covered only about a quarter of the cost of disconnecting in Victoria. Remaining users picked up the difference.

In July, Victoria banned gas connections for new homes from January, a move that would result in significant emissions reductions. The ACT and some councils in NSW are among jurisdictions looking to introduce gas bans on new buildings.

Gas accounts for about 18% of Victoria’s emissions, and about 200 households per day would need to abandon gas if the state’s homes were to reach net zero by 2050, a recent Grattan Institute report found.

Nationally, some 5m homes are connected to gas. Tennant Reed, an energy expert at the AiGroup, said gas network assets in eastern Australia were worth $12bn, half of them in Victoria.

Moving the goalposts might not only affect future gas investments by increasing uncertainty but also deter investors eyeing other regulated assets, such as the electricity industry, Reed said.

How to handle the potential decline of gas distribution networks and the allocation of costs was “fundamentally unresolved”.

“And resolving it will take policy decisions by governments,” he said. “Regulators can’t handle this adequately alone.”

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• Insurance 'under pressure' from extreme weather events

The insurance industry is under pressure from climate change and other cost pressures, prompting high-level talks in Europe.

“The protection gap – the difference between the insurance we need and the insurance we have – is worsening around the world,” Insurance Council of Australia chief executive Andrew Hall said on Monday.

Exposure to frequent and significant extreme weather events made the issue more acute in Australia, Mr Hall said.

Home owners, small businesses and professions that require insurance to operate are struggling to afford cover as premiums soar.

Company profits, more disasters, persistent inflation, growing reinsurance costs and scarcer capital are all contributing to the gap between the level of insurance required to rebuild after an event and the amount of insurance purchased.

But without insurance, Australians do not have the confidence to take risks and the economy would grind to a halt, Mr Hall said.

“The needs of insurance customers are at the heart of this exercise because in Australia and around the world insurance is under pressure,” he said.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones will join a delegation this week in London and Munich, where many top firms are headquartered, for discussions with insurers, reinsurers, brokers and industry bodies.

Reinsurance is insurance for insurers to lower the risk of covering a big payout, but is becoming more expensive as disasters strike more frequently and with a greater toll.

Governments are beginning to step in to bridge the gap to make sure households and businesses are not left without cover and to keep the industry afloat.

For example, the risk of cyclones in northern Australia is shared by the federal government under a reinsurance scheme backed by a $10 billion government guarantee.

Mr Jones has said one solution is to make better planning decisions and stop building homes in the wrong places.

The delegation will include Insurance Australia Group CEO Nick Hawkins, QBE Australia Pacific CEO Sue Houghton and Suncorp Group CEO Steve Johnston.

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• Petrol price surge further stretches household budgets

Motorists are forking out well over $2 a litre for fuel in parts of the country because of spiking oil prices and a weakening Australian dollar.

In some parts of the nation, petrol prices have overtaken the highs of last year after the conflict in Ukraine sent prices soaring.

Average prices in Sydney have hit $2.20 a litre for unleaded petrol, according to Compare the Market data - a whisper above the $2.18 a litre average reached during the peak last year.

Energy expert at the comparison site, Chris Ford, said the latest surge in fuel prices unfortunately coincided with the start of school holidays in many states, which would pile pressure on already-stretched family finances.

Mr Ford said there was a complex picture underpinning fuel markets, with both higher wholesale prices and the weaker Australian dollar playing a role.

Oil benchmarks had lifted 30 per cent since June, with the Brent oil futures lifting above $US93 a barrel late last week.

This was the highest level reached by the key oil benchmark since November 2022.

Commonwealth Bank commodities expert Vivek Dhar said supply cuts by major oil producers were keeping upward pressure on prices, with the latest data showing global stockpiles already starting to decline sharply.

He said both Saudi Arabia and Russia had extended their supply and export cuts through to the end of the year against expectations they would ease in October.

Mr Dhar said oil prices above $US100 a barrel were not unthinkable in the second half of 2023 under these conditions, but stockpiles would need to fall as rapidly in September as in August for that to eventuate.

He said elevated refining margins and a weaker Australian dollar were also feeding into the higher cost of petrol and diesel in Australia.

"A weaker Australian dollar looms as a threat in coming months if China's economic data surprises on the downside and iron ore prices retreat materially," the analyst wrote in a note.

Higher fuel prices could also complicate the Reserve Bank's task of returning inflation to its two-to-three per cent target range.

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Behyad Jafari Fewer EVs means dirtier Sydney air

• Electric cars face speed bump on road to price parity

Electric cars are already cheaper to run than petrol vehicles and will become less expensive to buy than fossil fuel equivalents within three years.

According to a report by researchers at the UK's University of Exeter, price parity for battery-electric vehicles is as little as one year away in Europe, two years in China and three years for medium-sized cars in the US.

The transport technology could reach equal pricing even faster, researchers noted, if governments provided subsidies for potential buyers.

The research could be negative news for Australian drivers, however, as it came days after the NSW government confirmed plans to scrap a $3000 subsidy on electric vehicles, months after the Victorian government did the same.

The analysis, led by the Rocky Mountain Institute and Bezos Earth Fund, included forecasts based on electric vehicle adoption in Europe, the US, China, India and Japan.

It found electric cars had already become cheaper to own and use than petrol and diesel cars in Europe and China, and the US was likely to follow in 2024 or 2025.

A second tipping point that would see electric vehicle prices equal to petrol and diesel cars would be reached in all three regions by 2026 for small and medium-sized cars, the study predicted.

Electric car price parity would also hit the market in India by 2027 and Japan by 2030, with the delay down to strong hybrid vehicle sales.

The forecasts did not account for electric vehicle subsidies, however, with the report noting "the tipping point for the consumer will be even earlier where governments provide them".

Project policy impact lead Simon Sharpe said governments could also boost low-emission transport by introducing deadlines for petrol car sales, road taxes and building more charging stations.

"Strong policy has got the transition to electric vehicles started and just because the transition is now gathering pace does not mean that any government should take its foot off the accelerator," he said.

"Zero-emission vehicle mandates, investment in charging infrastructure, purchase incentives and battery-recycling standards can all help people to enjoy the benefits of low-cost, zero-emission, sustainable road transport sooner."

But the NSW government is expected to scrap a $3000 rebate for new electric vehicle purchases and stamp duty exceptions in its budget on Tuesday after Premier Chris Minns said advice showed it could be raising the price of vehicles.

The Victorian government also ended its $3000 electric car rebate in June.

Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said the state-based rebates had driven "significant uptake" of low-emission cars in Australia and urged coalition and Greens politicians to oppose their removal.

"Fewer EVs means dirtier Sydney air, continued reliance on foreign oil imports, higher carbon emissions and more budget pressure on everyday households," he said.

Other states and territories to offer EV incentives include Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the ACT.

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• Australia now in El Nino climate pattern, increasing bushfire risk, BOM says

The Bureau of Meteorology has declared that Australia is now in an El Niño climate pattern that will increase the chances of a hot and dry summer, and heighten the risk of dangerous bushfires.

Dr Karl Braganza, the BoM’s manager of climate services, confirmed the event was underway at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, and said it was associated with “an increase in fire danger and extreme heat risk”.

The announcement comes amid soaring temperatures and extreme fire danger across parts of south-east Australia. Total fire bans were declared for the New South Wales south coast and greater Sydney region on Tuesday, while bushfire evacuation orders were issued in parts of Queensland during the week.

There was not yet a clear indication of how strong the El Niño would be, Braganza said. However, “the strength of an El Niño … doesn’t necessarily correspond to the severity of the rainfall deficiencies over Australia,” he said. “We have had weak events that have caused quite significant drought; we’ve had strong events that haven’t caused such severe conditions in the past.”

“In all likelihood, we can expect that this summer will be hotter than average and certainly hotter than the last three years.”

Braganza said modelling suggested the El Niño would persist until the end of summer.

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• Australians are being urged to develop heatwave plans. Here’s what you need to know

Australians should develop heatwave plans to protect themselves against health risks – just as they prepare for bushfires, health and disaster experts say.

Heatwaves have already begun to sweep through southern Australia this spring, and more are predicted this coming summer, with the Bureau of Meteorology formally declaring an El Niño on Tuesday.

The Australian Red Cross this week warned that 58% of Australians expect to be affected by heatwaves in the coming 12 months, more than five years ago when only a quarter expected to be affected. However, new independent research conducted on the organisation’s behalf shows only 10% of Australians are taking steps to actively get ready.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) on Wednesday said this week’s heatwaves were an urgent reminder for the government to release, implement and fund its national health and climate strategy as soon as possible.

Dr Kate Wylie, a general practitioner and executive director with Doctors for the Environment Australia, said more should be done on both an individual level, as well as by local and state governments, to prepare ahead for the health impacts of heatwaves.

Wylie said there needed to be greater recognition of heatwaves as a serious health threat. Heatstroke and exhaustion are a risk, but heatwaves can also exacerbate chronic illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, MS and asthma. Australians over the age of 65, pregnant people, small children and homeless people are also at greater risk.

“If we can start to approach heatwaves in the same way we approach fire and recognise it as a coming problem and act to protect ourselves, that’s really sensible.”

What can we do?

Individuals should tailor the steps they take to environmental factors, as well as their own vulnerabilities, such as their age and medical conditions.

The University of Sydney has partnered with NSW Health to develop a “Heat Watch” app which will integrate external and personal factors to provide targeted advice, Jay said.

The pilot app will be available for anyone who wishes to download it in October.

Much more in the article
_________

• Bureau of Meteorology releases Special Climate Statement on spring 2022

The Bureau of Meteorology has found more than 200 sites across south-eastern Australia last year had their highest total spring rainfall on record.

The findings come as part of the bureau’s Special Climate Statement, which is a formal record of the persistent heavy rain and flooding in eastern Australia during spring 2022.

The heavy rain during that period led to extensive flooding in the Murray–Darling Basin in New South Wales and Victoria, and floodwaters moved into South Australia. Significant flooding also affected parts of southern Victoria, southern Queensland and northern Tasmania.

The gauges of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee rivers in NSW, the Campaspe River at Rochester in Victoria and the Tamar catchment in Tasmania all exceeded their historical flood peaks.

The Bureau found while the 2010–11 flooding was more widespread nationally, flooding in the second half of 2022 was more prolonged in the southern Murray–Darling Basin, and a greater number of river gauges in the southern Murray–Darling Basin stayed above flood levels for a record number of days in 2022.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/

Part 1 of 2

• Australia Warns of Multi-Billion Dollar Climate Disaster Costs

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers highlighted the soaring cost of disaster management in his nation ahead of a potentially disastrous wildfire season in the coming summer, fueled by El Nino.

Government funding for disaster recovery has blown out by 433% over the past three years, Chalmers said in excerpts of a speech to be delivered Tuesday in the northern city of Rockhampton. The costs stood at A$2.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in the year ended June 30.

“The pressure of a changing climate and more frequent natural disasters is constant, cascading, and cumulative,” Chalmers said.

Australia has experienced several years of devastating natural disasters, from the Black Summer bushfires during the 2019-20 summer to heavy rainfall and flooding across the country’s east in 2021 and 2022.

Authorities are warning of a growing risk of severe bushfires over the coming months due to an El Nino weather system over the Pacific Ocean causing high temperatures and low rainfall.

Australia is at the forefront of climate change impact, yet has faced criticism for lagging behind in addressing the risk, particularly under the previous center-right government that ruled from 2013 through to May last year. The nation is one of the biggest per capita carbon emitters and among the largest exporters of coal.

Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said on Sunday that Australia was better prepared for the upcoming bushfire season than it was in 2019, saying government funding for aerial fire-fighting had doubled since then.

But Chalmers will say the economic damage from climate change is only just beginning to be understood, with the Black Summer bushfires and floods in October 2022 each costing the Australian economy about A$1.5 billion.

“If further action isn’t taken, Australian crop yields could be 4% lower by 2063, costing us about A$1.8 billion in GDP in today’s dollars,” he said.

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• Woodside plan for seismic blasting at Scarborough offshore gas field blocked by court

The gas and oil company Woodside’s plan to conduct seismic blasting for a major fossil fuel development in northern Western Australia has been stopped indefinitely after a court found it had not properly consulted traditional owners.

Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper had applied for a judicial review of a decision by the offshore petroleum regulator to allow Woodside to start seismic blasting for the controversial $16.5bn Scarborough gas development.

Cooper argued the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) made a legal error when it approved the plan despite having found Woodside’s consultation with traditional owners was inadequate.

In a judgment on Thursday, federal court justice Craig Colvin agreed.

An emotional Cooper said she was elated. She described the legal win as more than a personal victory.

“I want my mob back home to be empowered by this day today. This is bigger than me,” she said. “It’s about my people and our history. We’ve been forgotten and treated so badly.”

Cooper said she was concerned about the impact of seismic activity on her people’s songlines. She said that included its impact on turtles and endangered whales that would be affected by the blasting.

“Woodside just came and told us what was happening,” she said.

“They never bothered to sit down and listen to Murujuga traditional custodians about the full impacts of their Burrup hub operations on our culture and our sacred songlines.”

It is the second significant win by traditional owners against fossil fuel companies in a little over a year. Tiwi Islanders won a landmark victory in the federal court last September that overturned drilling approval for Santos’s Barossa gas project off the Northern Territory.

Seismic blasting involves airguns firing compressed air at the sea floor. The air creates sound patterns that give a picture of the geological structure beneath the seabed, including oil and gas reserves.

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• Cadia goldmine: Newcrest pleads guilty to breaching clean air regulations

Mining company Newcrest has pleaded guilty to breaching clean air regulations in the operation of the Cadia goldmine, near Orange in central west New South Wales.

The NSW Environmental Protection Authority began proceedings against the company in August, alleging that the operation of surface exhaust fans attached to the main ventilation shaft for the underground goldmine, dubbed vent rise 8, had caused it to exceed the standard concentration of solid particles under air pollution laws.

The allegations related to March 2022.

On Friday the company pleaded guilty at the first directions hearing in the land and environment court to a breach of section 128 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.

In a statement, the EPA said it welcomed the guilty plea.

The regulator began investigating Cadia goldmine in May after a campaign by local environment group the Cadia Community Sustainability Network, which had been testing the water in household rainwater tanks on properties surrounding the mine.

In July, a NSW upper house inquiry was established to examine the current and potential impacts of gold, silver, lead and zinc mining on human health, land, air and water quality.

Newcrest appeared before the inquiry on its first day of hearings, last week. The Cadia general manager, Mick Dewar, told the inquiry that the mine notified the EPA and Department of Planning and Environment in August 2022 that they had taken measurements that exceeded the clean air regulations. The mine has since installed filtration units, called “bag houses”, at a cost of $10m per year. Building a permanent filtration system will cost an additional $36m, Dewar said.

Dewar told the inquiry that none of the mine’s external monitors – an array of particle monitors placed around the mine’s boundary – “were indicating that we were polluting off premises”. He said that “at no point in time has there been any evidence suggesting that VR8 is actually depositing dust or allowing dust to escape the mine lease in levels that exceed any of those accepted standards or our project approvals”.

The company received two $15,000 fines from the EPA in 2022 for failing to conduct continuous air quality monitoring and dust pollution. Newcrest’s interim chief executive, Sherry Duhe, rejected a suggestion at the inquiry last week that the fines were seen as “just a cost of doing business”.

“Our very strong aim is never to be penalised and to always be in compliance,” she said. “For us, it’s really very important that we comply with regulations, that we are a good community neighbour and that we have that proactive positive relationship for decades to come.”

Hearings in the upper house inquiry are scheduled to continue in Orange on Tuesday and in Mudgee on Wednesday.

A sentencing hearing will be held in the NSW land and environment court on 28 March 2024.

Newcrest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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• Saudi Aramco stake in MidOcean Energy would extend its reach into Australia

Aramco to enter Australian LNG through $778m stake in MidOcean

A deal for Saudi Aramco to buy a $US500 million ($777 million) stake in one of the North American suitors for Origin Energy will bring the oil giant into the Australian LNG sector for the first time, raising questions about foreign investment approval for the $18.7 billion takeover.

The deal, announced overnight, involves Aramco buying into MidOcean Energy, which is partnering with Toronto-based Brookfield in the bid for Origin.

It would result in Aramco holding indirect stakes in five Australian LNG projects, given the stakes that MidOcean is already buying through a separate, $US2.15 billion deal announced last October with Tokyo Gas.

The MidOcean deal is Aramco’s first investment in liquefied natural gas as the Saudi giant seeks to diversify beyond its core oil business. Aramco is bringing its financial heft to LNG as global demand has surged, particularly in Europe which is trying to replace ng gas piped from warring Russia.

Under the proposed Origin takeover, which has yet to receive approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board, Brookfield and EIG will split the company’s assets. Brookfield will own the energy generation and retailing business, while MidOcean will take Origin’s 27.5 per cent stake in APLNG, one of Queensland’s three LNG export ventures.

Related

Mark Ogge, principal adviser at the Australia Institute, said the acquisition came at a time when fossil fuels needed to be phased out – not “doubled down on”.

“We’re all aware of the human rights issues in Saudi Arabia,” he added.

“Is it really in Australia’s interest to have a company like this buying a stake in Origin Energy and several LNG terminals?”

Part 2 of 2

• Federal and South Australia governments back hydrogen hub with AUD $100m

Hydrogen hub plans to redevelop a South Australian port are set to receive a combined AUD $100m ($64.2m) of funding from the state and federal governments.

The Port Bonython Hydrogen Hub near Whyalla plans to become the state’s “first” large-scale hydrogen export terminal, generating up to 1.8 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030.

Expected to host up to AUD $13bn ($8.3bn) worth of projects, the port in the Upper Spencer Gulf region has previously acted as the location of a gas fractionation plant and diesel storage facility.

With a number of international and local companies, including buyers, backing the plans, results of an earlier tender have been pushed back, despite the hub planned to come online by the end of 2025.

South Australia’s Premier, Peter Malinauskas, said, “Our state is blessed with the key ingredients the world needs to decarbonise international economies – abundant coincident wind and solar resources, critical minerals, strong renewable energy penetration and well developed industrial hubs.”

The state has already committed over AUD $500m ($321M) to deliver a hydrogen power plant as part of its Hydrogen Jobs plan, seeing 250MW of electrolysers, 200MW of hydrogen power generation and storage combined.

With the federal government conducting a review of its National Hydrogen Strategy, Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, added, “We’re working with the Malinauskas Government to develop the Port Bonython Hydrogen Hub, which will support regional jobs and take us a step closer to becoming a renewable energy superpower.”

$70m for South Australia's Port Bonython Hydrogen Hub
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• What is the climate crisis doing to Australia’s weather extremes? A Coalition frontbencher gets it ‘patently wrong’

Rising risk of heatwaves and bushfires means politicians will be put to the test about the effect of the climate crisis. Already, some have roundly failed

As Australia stares down the barrel of a hot summer and a rising risk of heatwaves and bushfires, politicians are going to have to get to grips with answering the obvious question. What is climate change doing to our weather extremes?

The Coalition’s shadow social services minister, Michael Sukkar, was given an early test last week and he roundly failed.

Sukkar was asked by a journalist if the climate crisis had contributed to the prospect of bushfires in the south of New South Wales or the “unseasonally hot weather” in that state and in Queensland.

“I don’t think so,” said Sukkar. “I don’t think you can say that climate change itself for any particular season, any particular event or any short period of weather can be ascribed direct to climate change.”

Dr Ailie Gallant, a climate scientist at Monash University, said Sukkar’s assertion was “patently wrong”.

“Everything that happens in the climate now is influenced by climate change in some way, and the extent of that influence gets bigger and bigger over time.

“We know El Niño tends to bring drier conditions and an increased chance of fire. However, climate change has made the impacts of El Niño worse.”

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• NRMA to start charging for electric car chargers

The National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA) is about to start charging you money for you to fast-charge your electric vehicle (EV).

From 27 September – or this Wednesday – select sites across the NRMA Electric Network will require payment, with the full network to require payment per use “by the end of October [2023]”.

Users will be required to pay via the My NRMA smartphone app, with a fee of $0.54 per kWh at 150kW DC fast chargers, and slightly dearer $0.59 per kWh at 175kW sites.

That means it would cost you $27 to replenish 50kWh at a 150kW NRMA charger, or $29.50 at a 175kW charger.

For reference, Chargefox recently upped the pricing of its 350kW ultra-rapid DC chargers to $0.60 per kWh in May, while pricing for its other chargers vary by site.

“A cost structure will commence at NRMA’s Sydney Olympic Park, Picton and Wallsend charging
stations this week before gradually rolling out across the whole network. The full roll-out is expected to be completed by the end of October,” the NRMA said in a media statement supplied to CarExpert.

“Once the payment system is rolled out across the whole network, a 10 per cent discount will apply
for NRMA members.”

The NRMA charger network currently includes more than 50 sites covering much of New South Wales (NSW), and extending into parts of South Australia and Queensland.

Back in June, The Driven first reported the NRMA would end its free charging offer to all EV owners due to excessive queuing at in-demand sites, which created frustration amongst users.

At the time, NRMA Energy CEO Carly Irving-Dolan told the publication the motoring group was developing a smartphone app and payment system for its EV charger network, with an aim to commence a billing rollout “around October-November”.

Moving forward, the association has confirmed a $78.6 million partnership with the Federal Government to build more chargers across the country, with over 100 sites planned. These upcoming EV charging stations are designed to ensure regional and remote areas are connected to a fast-charging network.

“The aim is for chargers to be on average 150km apart. Sometimes this may be a little less and sometimes a bit more, dependent on finding suitable sites based on optimal amenities, safety and grid connection,” the NRMA says on its website.

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• Bob Carr warns environment movement ‘in danger of fading’ amid huge challenges

The former New South Wales premier Bob Carr has warned the environment movement is “in danger of fading” in the face of massive challenges protecting habitats from population pressures and climate change.

The state’s longest serving premier made the statement as he backed an alliance of conservation groups calling for tougher environmental protections and an overhaul of the state’s land-clearing laws.

A report from the new alliance – called the Stand Up for Nature alliance – calls for forests and native vegetation to be protected by “ending habitat destruction, runaway land clearing and industrial native forest logging”.

“I think there’s a danger in recent years of the environment movement fading,” Carr said.

“I want to give them my engagement to maintain their energy levels because saving species is more urgent than ever given the pressures of population growth and the climate shift.”

Carr said he believed the best results for the environment were achieved when dedicated voluntary conservationists worked with “sympathetic Labor governments”.

“The previous government took a wrecking ball to our environmental protection laws and without decisive action we risk a future where much of the ecosystems we take for granted are no more,” he said.

Carr said he was very confident the premier, Chris Minns, and the environment minister, Penny Sharpe, would work together with the environment movement and farmers on the issue.

The groups – which include the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, the Wilderness Society, Humane Society International and Wires – have outlined 10 urgent actions for the government.

A review of the state’s Biodiversity Conservation Act, led by Dr Ken Henry, found the laws were failing to protect the environment and that clearing of vegetation and intensifying land use had led to the destruction of habitat across the state.

The review made 58 recommendations to overhaul state nature protections, including major changes to land-clearing rules and the state’s biodiversity offset scheme.

Sharpe said the government was committed to stopping excessive land clearing and this would form part of its response to the Biodiversity Conservation Act review and a separate review of Local Land Services laws.

“Bob Carr is one of NSW’s greatest premiers for the environment. I always take into account his views and expertise,” she said.

“The Henry review pointed to the failures in the current laws. The previous government presided over 12 years of environmental neglect that led to record numbers of threatened species, increased land clearing and saw koalas become endangered and on track to extinction.”

She said recommendations of the reviews would be considered “across government and in close contact with all stakeholders including farmers and land holders”.

Part 1 of 2

• Australia rejoins global climate fund initiative

Australia has signed back up to a global climate change fund for developing countries after an almost five-year absence.

The federal government announced Australia would rejoin the Green Climate Fund, a UN fund dedicated to financing projects to help smaller nations respond to climate change.

Australia was a signatory to the fund from 2015, before then-prime minister Scott Morrison said the government would not provide more money.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government would provide a "modest contribution" to the climate fund before the end of the year.

"We have taken on board feedback from our partners in the Pacific on the best ways to direct our climate finance efforts and ensure all elements deliver for Pacific priorities," the spokeswoman said.

"We recognise that the GCF is the most prominent global climate finance fund and we will work with partners to improve the GCF's effectiveness."

The spokeswoman said the resumption of financing the fund comes as Australia was supporting Pacific nations' transition to renewable energy.

"We are also helping countries access more climate financing from the major multilateral funds, by embedding climate finance experts in eight Pacific Island countries in partnership with the Climate Finance Access Network," she said.

The decision to rejoin the fund has been welcomed by the Climate Council, with senior researcher Wesley Morgan saying it should have taken place earlier.

"Now we'll need to seriously step up our contributions to international climate finance if we're to do our fair share to help vulnerable nations deal with the growing impacts of the climate crisis," Dr Morgan said.

"This is of course, very welcome, but the most important thing Australia should do is end support for new fossil fuel projects."

Greenpeace Australia Pacific advisor Shiva Gounden said rejoining the fund was the right decision.

"Pacific communities are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis as they experience more severe storms, sea level rise and loss of agricultural land," he said.

"While the commitment to a 'modest contribution' is positive, the key demand we are consistently hearing from Pacific leaders is for no new fossil fuels."

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• Australian farm incomes to be squeezed as prices dive and fears of a dry summer loom

Drier conditions combined with lower commodity prices and smaller crops are expected to reduce broadacre farm incomes by 41% on average this financial year, according to the latest Australian agricultural seasonal outlook.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (Abares) forecasts average cash incomes to fall to $197,000 per broadacre farm in 2023–24, with beef cattle and sheep farms expected to be hit particularly hard.

The forecast warns some farms will find it difficult to repay debt, which has increased over the past few years at the same time as interest rates have climbed.

Recent Abares figures show farm debt has accelerated each year since 2016-2017, primarily for land and working capital, though farm equity remains strong due to rising land prices.

It comes after El Niño climate pattern was declared and livestock markets plummet as farmers sell off stock to reduce herds ahead of an expected dry summer.

But the latest Abares farm performance forecast says the expected income falls are relative to the record highs for farm incomes over the past two years.

“Forecast farm incomes and profits for 2023–24 are still expected to be above those observed during recent drought years at a national average level,” it says.

The forecast covers broadacre farms, which represent 95% of farmland in the country but a little over half of the value of production, because it excludes intensive industries such as dairy, horticulture and poultry.

In 2023-24, below average farm profits are likely for parts of southern Victoria and South Australia, and Western Australia in areas affected by both adverse seasonal conditions and declining sheep, lamb, and wool prices.

In northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, below average farm profits are expected to be primarily driven by the climate’s impact on crop production.

However, central and central-north Australian conditions are forecast to remain more favourable, with expected farm cash incomes only forecast to decline 14% compared with 41% nationally.

Neal Hughes, a senior economist at Abares, said the new forecast combines a farm simulation model with a drought early warning system linked to the Bureau of Meteorology’s seasonal weather forecasts and related crop and pasture growth estimates.

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• Bushfires one day, floods the next: why Australia can expect more ‘compound events’

As unseasonably early bushfires tore through Gippsland in Victoria on Tuesday, residents of the same region were told to prepare for major flooding.

“It’s the first time the Victorian emergency map showed flood warnings and fire warnings for the same area on the same day,” says the Wellington shire mayor, Ian Bye.

The fires started on Sunday when a home was lost to a 17,500-hectare bushfire in Briagolong. By midweek, 130 properties in and around Tinamba, Newry and Maffra were issued evacuation orders due to flooding.

“We’ve had floods upon floods in Sale, but to have a fire event that early in the season is extraordinary – and to have them back-to-back is just weird. It’s unheard of,” says Bye.

As the local state MP, Danny O’Brien, puts it, the area had “fires literally one day, floods the next”.

“We’re a bloody resilient bunch in Gippsland, but sometimes it feels like a bit too much to take.”

Australia recorded its driest, and third-warmest, September on record. In Europe, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and Switzerland all experienced their warmest September on record. Global average temperatures in September were the hottest ever recorded.

In Australia we can expect to see more “compound events”, such as floods and fires together or a storm with a king tide, says Prof Lisa Alexander of the University of New South Wales’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes.

“It’s very hard to project what will happen but this is something that we’re actually really worried about in the future. On their own, floods or fires are worrying, but together, as we are seeing in Gippsland, they are even more extreme.”

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• Increased fire risk from charging e-bikes due to lack of battery regulation in Australia, expert says

A lack of regulation covering lithium-ion batteries has resulted in lower quality products on the market, increasing the fire risk from charging devices such as e-bikes, an expert says.

Robert Kerr, an associate professor from Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials, told Guardian Australia that one of the major issues was a lack of regulation around how the technology is developed and how people would charge the batteries.

His comments follow Wednesday’s Sydney hostel explosion that authorities believe was sparked by a faulty charge from a lithium-ion battery on an e-bike.

The hostel in Darlinghurst caught fire on Wednesday morning at 9am, with security footage of the incident showing two men forced to dash to safety after a ball of flames erupted from the room.

One of the men in his 20s sustained minor burns to his leg, and an additional 70 people had to be evacuated from the building and the surrounding streets were shut down while firefighters extinguished the flames.

Fire and Rescue NSW said the blaze was suspected to have been sparked by a faulty e-bike left on charge.

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• Bridget McKenzie asks what will replace fuel excise when EVs become dominant

On ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Senator Bridget Mckenzie was also talking about tax policies around vehicles and road usage. Asked if she would support the mechanism to charge drivers in CBDs more, she questioned how much EV users would pay for road maintanence.

As you know I am from rural and regional Australia, we have big rigs and we travel long kilometres. So I think as we move towards net-zero position, we will have more electric vehicles in our (fleets), particularly our passenger fleet.

Who pays for the road? The fuel excise is one way we all contribute to the construction of our road network across the country. EV users don’t pay that.

Part 2 of 2

• WA to end commercial logging of native forests

Western Australia has joined Victoria in banning commercial logging of native forests from next year.

The WA forestry minister Jackie Jarvis says timber will only be removed from the state's native forests in the future to maintain forest health and for approved mine site operations.

"This move by the Cook Government will safeguard our ionic forests for generations to come," she said on Sunday.

The government will spend $350 million investing in the state's softwood pine plantations to provide building material and protect existing jobs, as well as provide another 140 new positions.

The investment would help ease the state's housing crisis as well as prevent climate change by boosting pine forest populations, Ms Jarvis said.

"The record investment in WA's plantation estate will ensure we can continue to build houses in WA, supporting both the local construction industry and the South West forestry industry," she said.

The government had already spent $80 million on the Native Forest Transition Plan that included significant industry restructure payments.

WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby said nearly two million hectares of native karri, jarrah and wandoo forests will be protected for future generations.

"This decision reflects the changing attitudes of the community towards our native forests, building on the legacy of the Gallop Labor Government ending old growth logging," he said.

The move follows the recent announcement by the Victorian government that native timber harvesting in state forests will be gone by the end of the year.

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• Energy consumer lobby calls for Australia-wide ban on gas connections in new homes

All state and territory governments should introduce bans on gas connections in new homes and develop a clear plan to electrify existing properties and small businesses, according to an organisation representing energy consumers.

In a submission to a Senate inquiry examining Australia’s residential electrification efforts, Energy Consumers Australia urged the government to consider mandatory information disclosures to warn consumers about “the potential economic consequences” of buying a new gas appliance.

The organisation’s chief executive, Dr Brendan French, said its most recent consumer research found 22% of consumers were planning to decarbonise and make their homes all-electric, up from 16% in 2021.

But he said there were still too many barriers for making the switch, particularly for low-income households, renters and residents of multi-unit dwellings.

Recent modelling Energy Consumers Australia commissioned from the CSIRO found that even without solar panels and a battery, households could reduce their annual energy bills by $2,250 by 2030 if they swapped to electric appliances and an electric vehicle. Solar panels and a battery increased the projected saving to $3,500.

“While this is great news for many consumers, people who face barriers to going all-electric could be left behind and unable to access those savings,” French said.

“Governments must make sure those who can least afford to make the switch don’t end up shackled to a fossil fuel gas network that becomes more and more costly for fewer and fewer people.”

The organisation’s submission said the electrification of homes required national planning that involved all levels of government.

It recommended the Albanese government expand its household energy upgrades fund to support more homes and social housing. It also called for further grants and subsidies for low-income households and agreed with a recent Grattan Institute report that urged state and territory governments to set end dates for the use of gas in homes.

It points to Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as jurisdictions with policies that gave “certainty and direction to both industry and consumers” as economies decarbonise.

In June, the ACT Labor-Greens minority government became the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce legislation prohibiting the use of fossil gas in new homes and businesses.

The Victorian Labor government announced it would phase out gas connections for new dwellings from 2024.

But in New South Wales, the Minns Labor government has ruled out a ban on new gas connections.

The Albanese government has identified energy efficiency in homes and other buildings as low-hanging fruit for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and taking pressure off energy bills.

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• ‘Absolutely perverse’: climate scheme could reward Australian coalmines whose emissions rise

Ten coalmines could increase their greenhouse gas pollution until 2030 while being financially rewarded under an Albanese government climate policy that is meant to cut industrial emissions, according to a new analysis.

The analysis of how different facilities are treated under the safeguard mechanism – the government’s main policy to deal with major polluters – has prompted calls for changes to deal with this “perverse outcome” and require every coalmine to take additional steps to cut emissions.

The Coalition introduced the safeguard mechanism after it repealed a national carbon price scheme, with a promise it would be used to stop industrial emissions rising. In practice, companies were often allowed to increase their pollution limits without penalty.

Labor revamped the scheme earlier this year so that 215 big polluting facilities have to reduce emissions intensity by up to 4.9% a year or use contentious carbon offsets.

The government said facilities would be given a new limit – known as a baseline – based initially on their current emissions, but that would eventually include the average pollution within a particular industry.

Coalmines have proved challenging to fit within this model. The emissions intensity – how much pollution is released per tonne of coal mined – varies markedly, with underground mines usually releasing more than open-cut mines.

The government attempted to address this by using site-specific pollution levels to help calculate coalmine emissions baselines for a longer period than that used for other industries. By 2030, coalmines will be set baselines based on a weighted formula that relies equally on site-specific data and the industry average.

The analysis by Energy & Resource Insights – commissioned by the Lock the Gate Alliance – found this would still allow about 20% of Australian coalmines to significantly increase their emissions this decade, compared with today’s levels. It estimated some New South Wales mines – Moolarben, Wilpinjong and Mangoola – could be able to more than double their emissions baselines over this timeframe.

The owners of those mines could receive a financial benefit without taking measures to cut pollution as they would be issued “safeguard credits” if they emitted less than their baseline. Credits can be sold to businesses that failed to keep their emissions below their baseline to offset their additional pollution.

The analysis suggested the potential benefit to coalmines without taking any action could be $180m.

Georgina Woods, Lock the Gate’s head of research and investigations, said it would be “absolutely perverse” if the scheme led to some open-cut coalmines expanding their operations and receiving a financial reward for it.

She said the government should ensure a mine operator could not receive safeguard credits unless it took additional measures to cut emissions and that baselines should have to decrease year-on-year at every coal facility.

“There definitely has to be some policy action beyond the safeguard mechanism to make sure this occurs,” Woods said.

“We have delayed action on the climate emergency so long already that no one single policy mechanism can take all the action that we need to take.”

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• Community organisations share in funding boost

The Australian Council of Social Service is calling on the government to deliver a cost of living package to help people on low incomes afford their energy bills this summer.

A survey conducted by the organisation, found the majority of people on income support are struggling to cover their energy bills.

ACOSS Climate and Energy program director Kellie Caught said the government needed to take action as the nation faced a summer of extreme heat.

"There was some one-off help delivered in the last federal budget, but this will not be sufficient to help people on the lowest incomes who are facing dramatic increases in housing costs as well as food and energy," she said.

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• Solar power and a composting toilet: what it takes to live off the grid in regional Australia

It may not look like everyone’s idea of a dream home but for Tim Dakin this converted shed in East Gippsland represents financial freedom and self-sufficiency.

Located 7km out of the small town of Briagolong, the shed is now a comfortable home. Dakin bought the property on a whim with his ex-wife more than two decades ago, and has spent the past eight turning it into a fully off-the-grid residence.

“We literally stumbled across this property that was advertised in Burger Bill’s fish and chip shop in Briagolong, we met the owners then and there and decided to buy the property on that day,” Dakin says.

Working in the arts, Dakin has never had a stable income. He says living off-grid has given him a new sense of agency and control over his budget.

Off-grid homes have a growing appeal in regional Australia, thanks to rising energy costs and the high cost of connecting a new build to mains power. Reducing costs and addressing environmental concerns, by living a more sustainable lifestyle, often go hand in hand.

But the upfront costs can be considerable.

Dakin was quoted up to $65,000 to build off-grid systems for his home. Instead he installed a modest battery system, new solar panels and a small water pump for about $20,000. He now runs his petrol generator only twice during winter, down from once a week when he first moved in.

“When I first moved back down, I’d be sitting there at night with my old system with a miner’s lamp, trying to read because the power had gone out and my generator wasn’t working,” he says. “Now, when friends with young people come up I don’t have to be worried about them charging all their devices at the same time.”

His battery system allows him to run a washing machine, an electric fridge, a microwave and a big screen TV. The LPG gas bill for his stove and hot water is about $200 a year. He has satellite internet to watch Netflix. It’s almost every luxury he needs.

“At times I’d love a jaffle maker – an electric one,” he adds. “But then, I’ve got the fire.”

He does not have council rubbish collection and has whittled down his waste to just one bag of rubbish every six months. Living off-grid has forced him to become more conscious of decisions that, when he lived in the city, he never questioned. He avoids unnecessary plastic and packaging and shops for fruit and vegetables at roadside stalls.

Part 1 of 2

• ‘Green coal’ company owned by LNP figures received $5.5m grant a week before Morrison government entered caretaker mode

Exclusive: Green Day Energy has had its bank account frozen after going into administration amid a legal dispute between its owners

A fledgling “green coal” company owned by two Queensland Liberal National party figures has had its bank account frozen and become mired in legal action, 18 months after being awarded a $5.5m commonwealth grant in the dying days of the Morrison government.

Guardian Australia can reveal the federal government is “considering its position” in relation to the grant to Green Day Energy, after the company was placed in voluntary administration by director David Hutchinson, the former LNP president. Hutchinson is being sued by Green Day’s largest shareholder, Brad Carswell, a former party official and candidate.

The company was registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission three days before Christmas in 2021 – the same day that the federal government released the grant guidelines for its “securing raw minerals program”.

In April, a week before the Morrison government went into caretaker mode, Green Day Energy was awarded $5.5m from that program – the equal largest individual grant to any company – to build a biomass plant in the north-west Queensland town of Richmond.

The project would involve converting prickly acacia, an invasive outback weed, into woodchip pellets with properties similar to coal. It had backing from the local council and Central Queensland University.

The grant was approved by the then minister for regionalisation, Bridget McKenzie, after being assessed by the government business grants hub and reviewed by a committee.

McKenzie made several election announcements in the following weeks about regional businesses awarded money from the $29m securing raw minerals program. The grant to Green Day Energy, however, does not appear to have been announced publicly until after the election.

A spokesperson for McKenzie said the office of the former deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, had taken carriage of an announcement because McKenzie was not visiting the region.

“To the best of our recollection the former minister did not meet or speak with Green Day Energy prior to the grant being awarded,” the spokesperson said. “Senator McKenzie was the responsible minister for the program, which was a competitive grants program.”

Take no ‘further step’ in administration

On 5 September this year, Hutchinson called in administrators after NAB froze the company’s bank account, which holds grant money paid by the federal government.

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• Court Win for Coal & Gas Shows Labor’s Environment Laws Broken

Response to today's legal decision on the Living Wonders case. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is spokesperson for the Environment and currently has a Climate Trigger Bill before the Senate.

“Our environment laws are broken so long as they fail to tackle climate change.

“It shouldn’t fall on a small community group to take on the might of the fossil fuel industry and their accomplices in the Federal Government in court.

“The Environment Minister should be on the side of the environment to protect our climate, our rivers, our reef and public safety instead of teaming up with coal and gas companies.

“If Minister Plibersek wants to protect nature and tackle climate change she should work with the Greens and back our Climate Trigger Bill in the Senate as part of the environment law reform she has promised. My door is open for that conversation in good faith.

“Australians voted for climate action at the last election, but every time the Government fights to approve a coal or gas project they are putting Australia at risk of more frequent and extreme bushfires this summer.”

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• Cyclone Tracy caused $200m of damage. A repeat now would cost $7.4bn, Australian insurers say

A repeat of Australia’s worst disasters such as Cyclone Tracy and Sydney’s giant hailstorm in 1999 would hit the economy much harder now, given increased population and the rising costs of rebuilding, the Insurance Council of Australia has said.

The assessment, contained in this year’s insurance catastrophe resilience report, found that Tracy – which killed 71 people and caused $200m in insured losses when it struck Darwin in 1974 – would cause $7.4bn in losses if repeated today. If adjusted only for inflation, the cost would have been $1.78bn.

Sydney’s hailstorm, which cost $1.7bn in insured losses in April 1999, would land a damage bill of $8.85bn if an equivalent event struck now. Had inflation changes only been taken into account, the bill would have been $3.28bn.

Both tallies exceed the $6bn paid out by insurers for the 2022 floods in south-eastern Queensland and northern New South Wales, currently Australia’s costliest disaster. The revised data, modelled by Risk Frontiers, adjusted costs for inflation, changes in property numbers and values and tougher building codes.

ICA’s chief executive, Andrew Hall, said soaring costs associated with extreme events – even before global heating was factored in – should be considered in debates about population growth, especially in the eastern states.

“We’ve got to think about housing that population in safe, durable and insurable homes,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re just setting ourselves up for large costs moving forward, particularly in a changed climate, and it impacts everybody in the insurance market.”

Insurers paid out $1.6bn in claims for the year to June, or just 22% of the record tally for the previous 12 months of $7.28bn.

Hall, though, said insurers were still trying to recapitalise balance sheets after taking a battering over three La Niña years and consumers shouldn’t anticipate lower premiums.

Reinsurance costs have this year risen to 20-year highs, pushing up Australian insurers’ costs by 20-30%. “Australia has been traditionally thought about as a good diversified risk for reinsurance globally,” he said. “Over the last decade, what we’ve seen is reinsurers have reassessed the risk factors in the Australian market and the prices have changed accordingly.

“The cost of rebuilding has gone up enormously,” Hall said, adding insurers were also having to hire and retain more staff to cater for large surges in claims.

Australia already had a notably variable climate – particularly for rainfall – even before climate shifts take effect in a warming world. Rising premiums after disasters are also increasingly putting insurance out of the reach of many Australians.

The Albanese government announced in its first budget last October a five-year, $1bn disaster-ready fund for mitigation infrastructure that was matched by the states and territories. Those funds were inadequate to meet the “enormous” requirements to make at-risk communities more resilient, Hall said.

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• Coalition are ‘climate charlatans’ making false claims about Australia’s nuclear power potential, energy minister says

The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has accused the Coalition of using “the rightwing playbook of 2023 – populism, polarisation and post-truth politics” in making false claims about the potential for nuclear power in Australia.

Speaking on Tuesday, Bowen said the opposition’s suggestion the country could embrace the banned energy source to meet climate targets was the “latest attempt at deflection and distraction now that outright denial is less fashionable” and an attempt to “continue the culture climate wars in Australia”.

He said the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, and Coalition energy and climate spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, had made false claims about the role of nuclear energy in Canada, and been dishonest about the comparative costs of nuclear power and renewable energy in Australia.

“In doing so they are using the rightwing playbook of 2023 – populism, polarisation and post-truth politics. These are climate charlatans and it’s time for these games to end,” Bowen told a climate and energy summit hosted by the Australian Financial Review.

“If they are serious about proposing a nuclear solution for Australia, the simplistic bumper stickers and populist echo chamber has to come to an end. Show the Australian people your verified nuclear costings and your detailed plans about where the nuclear power plants will go.

“Dealing with the challenges and opportunities of decarbonising Australian energy, creating jobs and investments and managing this transition is a serious task … requiring serious people and serious plans. The government is providing those plans, the alternative government is not.”

O’Brien told the summit on Monday that Australia needed to consider nuclear energy, which was banned by the Howard government in 1998. He said the Albanese government had “wrongly defined the challenge of net zero by making it all about pouring more renewables on to the grid”.

“To put it candidly: no nuclear, no net zero,” he said.

The Coalition supports a slower exit from coal power, the most polluting source of electricity, and has argued small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) could be built on the site of coal generators to complement renewable energy and other technology.

SMRs do not currently exist, commercially. The CSIRO said they were in use at two sites, in Russia (on a barge) and China, and both had suffered delays and cost blowouts.

The International Atomic Energy Agency this year reported there were more than 80 SMR designs in development, but only some would be used for electricity generation, and their economic competitiveness was “still to be proven in practice”. The CSIRO found nuclear was the most expensive source of power generation available, and renewable energy the cheapest.

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• Energy giants fail on climate lobbying disclosures

Most of Australia’s major energy and resource companies have scored no more than a passing grade on their climate policy engagement even though almost all support the Paris climate pact.

A report from the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) examined 50 ASX companies as well as resource giants BHP. Origin, Rio Tinto, Santos and Woodside.

It found the energy corporations had done well when making commitments to climate policy and even had some of the highest lobbying activity of any companies in Australia.

However, they did not follow through on their promises at the same rate nor did they disclose the specific payments they made in their lobbying efforts.

The report said it reflected the fact that commitments were “easier or less costly to make” compared to action.

Origin was the one exception, which scored notably higher than the others because it actioned its climate change commitments.

ACCR company strategy lead Naomi Hogan said the findings showed Australian companies were lagging far behind their US counterparts in disclosing their lobbying .

“While Australia’s major energy and resources companies are big political spenders with large influence on government climate policy, the governance and disclosure of these activities are not up to scratch,” she said.

When it came to disclosing lobbying spend, Australian companies scored in the bottom 20 per cent and none scored as high as even the average score of US companies.

Part of the reason Australia performs so poorly is that disclosure requirements around political spending are less stringent than those in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Insufficient governance causes large gaps between company policies on climate change and the action they eventually take, and can also lead to “greenwashing”.

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• Groundwater a significant source of pollution on Great Barrier Reef, study shows

Scientists say they have discovered large flows of pollution are reaching the Great Barrier Reef after soaking into underground water, a finding that could have implications for policymakers focused on cutting pollution from river catchments.

The new research claims almost a third of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and two-thirds of dissolved inorganic phosphorus in the reef’s waters are coming from underground sources – an amount previously undocumented.

Controlling pollution running on to the reef from farms has been a major focus for governments and agenciess, with scientists saying improving water quality will give corals a better chance of recovering from bleaching events caused by global heating.

UN science experts have repeatedly raised concerns that progress in improving water quality has been too slow and a failure to tackle the issue alongside the climate crisis could risk the reef being placed on a list of world heritage sites in danger.

Scientists at Southern Cross University, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and CSIRO collaborated on the research, which has been a decade in the making and is published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Researchers took water samples and analysed them for radium isotopes that act as a marker for pollution. The study did not identify the source of the pollution but rather the route it took to the reef.

Dr Douglas Tait, an expert on the chemistry of coastal waters at Southern Cross University and lead author of the research, said the pollutants could take decades to move from farms to underground aquifers before emerging from springs at the coastline and from underwater springs – known as wonky holes – in the reef lagoon itself.

He said it was possible “this could just be the start of the front [of pollution] that is coming through” or it could be the tail-end.

“We could have a significant problem realised in the coming decades,” he said.

Prof Damien Maher, a co-author of the research also from Southern Cross University, said: “Groundwater discharge accounted for approximately one-third of new nitrogen and two-thirds of phosphorus inputs, indicating that nearly twice the amount of nitrogen enters the reef from groundwater compared to river waters.”

Tait said an excess of nutrients could cause algal blooms, promote outbreaks of coral-eating starfish and promote fish disease.

He said the study “underscores the need for a strategic shift in management approaches” to reduce the harm from pollutants.

Tait said there were a range of likely pathways that the pollution could take through groundwater, from moving through cracks and fissures in rocks below the top soil to dripping through porous rocks.

“We’re going to need to have a discussion about how these nutrients are managed. We need a much better understanding of this process so that we can manage it in the future,” he said.

State and federal governments have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to improve water quality in the Great Barrier Reef.

Dr Stephen Lewis, a reef water quality expert at James Cook University’s TropWATER research group who was not involved in the research, said the study’s claims were surprising and he welcomed the chance to examine the results more closely.

Part 1 of 2

• Delayed environment laws spark calls for urgent government action on water and fracking

The Greens say the Albanese government has indicated it could be a year before promised environment laws are passed, a delay that potentially pushes the revamp close to the next federal election.

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, said last year she planned to introduce legislation in 2023 to reform the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act after major reviews found the law was failing and Australian nature was in poor and deteriorating health.

That timeframe has been pushed out. In a statement last week, Plibersek said the government would begin consulting this month with more than 30 environment, business, and industry groups on legislation that would be introduced to parliament next year. She said the new laws were complex and the legislation would be more than 1,000 pages.

In a letter to Plibersek released publicly, the Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young said it had been indicated during a government briefing for her office in September that the legislation would not reach the Senate for “at least another 12 months”.

The independent MP Sophie Scamps and Hanson-Young said, given the delay, the government should bring forward one part of the promised changes – strengthening the “water trigger” to ensure local water resources were protected from fracking for gas – and pass it this year.

Scamps and Hanson-Young both introduced water trigger bills – Scamps in the lower house and Hanson-Young in the Senate – on Monday, and urged the government to back them.

The water trigger requires the environment minister to consider the impact of large coal and coal seam gas proposals on local water resources. Labor has promised to expand it to include all types of unconventional gas development, including the shale gas found in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin, where fracking is a looming issue.

The change is supported by environment groups, traditional owners and NT farmers.

“With the threat of drought again looming large and the approval of new shale fracking projects in the Beetaloo Basin imminent, it is urgent that we act now to protect our water resources from potentially destructive unconventional fracking practices,” she said.

Hanson-Young said the bills would close a loophole that meant developments in the Beetaloo Basin now did not have to be assessed for their impact on water resources.

“Water is life, but right now a legal loophole means fracking corporations have a licence to drill without regard for our rivers, the climate or the voices of traditional owners,” she said.

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• Methane bubbles in groundwater cast doubts over Beetaloo basin fracking approval, scientists say

Experts have cast doubt on groundwater studies that underpin the Northern Territory government’s decision to permit fracking in the Beetaloo basin, after methane bubbles were observed at hot springs in an area targeted for gas production.

In a new report, commissioned by the Environment Centre NT (ECNT), the scientists warn of “critical knowledge gaps” in baseline groundwater assessments conducted by the government in response to the Pepper inquiry into fracking.

Ninety percent of the territory’s water supply comes from groundwater while the territory’s hot springs support ecosystems and Indigenous cultural values.

“Our analysis shows that there are significant and critical gaps in the knowledge base underpinning fracking approvals in the Northern Territory,” said Matt Currell, a professor of environmental engineering at Griffith University and lead author of the report commissioned by the ECNT.

“This means that, at present, it is not possible to properly assess the risk of contamination and over-extraction of Northern Territory water due to fracking.

“Further studies are required to fill these knowledge gaps. To proceed on the current evidence base would be unwise, and may risk valuable aquifers, rivers and springs.”

Of particular concern, the authors found the government had failed to properly determine where the groundwater that flows to important springs comes from. They said the baseline studies lacked clear data on potential connectivity between shallow and deeper aquifers.

The authors said the government had also failed to develop a thorough profile of water quality throughout the groundwater systems. This would help establish whether there was a risk that saline water found at deeper levels, for example, could contaminate freshwater at shallow levels.

Currell also pointed to studies at hot springs on Tanumbirini station – an area targeted by gas companies.

“The discovery of methane bubbling to the surface at hot springs is particularly concerning, as it suggests connections between the shale gas layer to be targeted for fracking and surface water,” he said.

“This could become a pathway for contamination of water relied upon by communities in the Northern Territory.”

Snip

“All fracking approvals and water allocations for fracking must be put on hold until the federal government ensures that the water trigger is in place, and baseline studies are completed and peer reviewed.”

A road train passes the turnoff to Beetaloo Station on the Stuart Highway north of Elliott in the Northern Territory

Djingili elder and director of Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation, Elaine Sandy, said “we have a responsibility to protect water, for our communities and everyone living here”.

“If fracking damages our water it can never be put right,” she said.

The letter calls for activities to be put on hold until the NT government established water advisory committees for the Beetaloo region and the federal government expanded the water trigger under national environmental laws.

The Albanese government has promised to expand the water trigger to include the shale gas in the Beetaloo basin as part of environmental reforms that have been delayed until next year. The Greens and independent MP Sophie Scamps have introduced their own bills to pressure the government to act before the end of the year.

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• Murray-Darling Basin plan changes pass lower house

Changes to the controversial Murray-Darling Basin Plan have passed the House of Representatives, setting up a Senate showdown on the reform.

The laws would put in place a new plan with all basin states, except for Victoria, after it was revealed the old agreement was not on track to meet its water recovery targets.

The bill passed the lower house 85 votes to 50.

The original proposal aimed to return 450 gigalitres of additional water to the environment by June 2024, but the new laws would push back the deadline to December 2027.

The Murray-Darling plan outlines the amount of water that can be taken from the basin each year, while allowing for an environmentally sustainable amount to remain.

While the laws passed the lower house, the coalition and Greens have criticised the proposal, meaning its passage through the Senate is uncertain.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the new plan would allow for more money and accountability for the scheme.

"With these changes, we're opening up the full suite of water recovery options we'll be able to invest in," she told parliament on Wednesday.

"Water purchase is never the only tool in the box, it's not the first tool at hand, but it has to be one of them."

The government has faced criticism for the proposed voluntary water buybacks as part of the scheme.

Water buybacks allow farmers to sell their water directly to the government, but have been criticised for their ability to distort water prices and drive up the operating costs of farms.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the new plan would be "egregious" and traumatic for regions across the basin.

"Those three million people that live up and down the basin, their future has just been ripped away with the stroke of a pen by reckless ideology," he said.

As part of the legislation, an annual progress report would be carried out to show whether water recovery targets were being met.

Ms Plibersek said the new water plan was needed due to drier than expected conditions forecast in coming months.

"Over the last month we have had a really stark reminder of just why it is necessary to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan," she said.

"This next El Nino cycle means less rain, more extreme heat or bushfire risk and more pressure on our ricers and on our farmers."

Independent MP Helen Haines put forward amendments that would increase accountability measures for the river plan.

"If additional water is to be purchased, it must be from where it is most effective rather than from where it is easiest," she said.

"What is needed are consistent, independent and publicly available accounting processes to ensure the actual water savings for projects match the promises made."

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• Australia must urgently adapt to extreme weather or face soaring premiums, insurers warn

Global insurers say Australia is running out of time to reduce its vulnerability to the climate crisis and faces higher premiums for households and businesses.

“They said, ‘you’ve got five years basically’,” said the federal assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, who led a delegation last month to insurance centres in London and Munich.

“They like what we’re saying but they want to see that backed up by action.

“Insurance affordability is a key economic issue,” Jones said. “It’s on the boil now but I think it’ll be a significant issue over the next couple of years.”

Insurance costs have jumped in the past year, becoming one of the largest contributors to higher inflation. CBA’s latest spending survey found consumers spent 12.9% more on insurance than a year ago, the biggest increase among its 12 categories.

“We are in a global race for capital,” said the chief executive of the Insurance Council of Australia, Andrew Hall, who accompanied Jones. Australia must “tell a better risk management story” by coordinating efforts at all levels of government to improve land-use planning and building codes, or insurance costs would rise further.

About a third of premium increases have come from a surge in reinsurance rates, which have risen by about a fifth in the past year to two-decade highs. Eastern Australia’s floods last year alone caused insured losses of $6.8bn, making it the county’s largest natural catastrophe claims event, SwissRe said.

The main drivers of larger insurance losses have been economic growth, accumulation of assets in exposed areas and rising populations in regions susceptible to natural perils, the reinsurance giant said in report earlier this year. “We expect that these and the evolution of a range of present-day risk factors like climate change effects and, of late, inflation, will continue to drive losses higher.”

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• Agriculture strategies need to be 'better connected'

Sustainable agricultural strategies need to be better connected, with different initiatives not well co-ordinated and lacking a clear plan, the minister responsible for the sector has told farmers and industry stakeholders.

Murray Watt used an address in Canberra on Tuesday to outline how more than $300 million will be spent from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program over the next five years.

Around 100 delegates including farmers, departmental representatives and academics are meeting at the Australian Farm Institute's roundtable to look at the industry's challenges and opportunities.

Senator Watt says more than $85 million will be spent on sustainable agriculture measures to help farmers, with an additional $40 million to be spent on a network of sustainability facilitators to help producers.

A further $36 million will be used to help improve Australia's soil.

"This integrated suite of investment represents a clear-sighted and comprehensive response to what we have heard through consultation with agriculture stakeholders up to now," Senator Watt said.

The minister said a lot was being done for sustainable agriculture however, "it's not particularly well tied together."

The different initiatives were not well co-ordinated and lacked a clear plan.

"It does need to be better connected," he said.

Australia's first ever agriculture and land sector plan which is being developed, will help deliver a net zero emissions economy by 2050, Senator Watt said.

The council of Australia's 15 Research & Development Corporations, Troy Setter told the roundtable that agriculture fell across too many government portfolios.

"We have a system where food and agriculture on the production end sits in the Department of Agriculture then moves across to other departments for environment, regulation, processing, value adding and moves back to food and agriculture for trade, market access and biosecurity," he said.

"It's very hard for industry to work together when government has such structured silos."

The meeting was told Australian agriculture performs well on the world stage when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Agriculture contributes almost 17 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions, with that number set to increase to around 20 per cent in the next decade, the department of agriculture's Nick Blong told the roundtable.

"Australian agriculture and food and fibre production has a lower emissions intensity than a lot of our competitors across both livestock and cropping sectors," Mr Blong said.

Richard Heath from the Australian Farm Institute said the roundtable was a chance "to look at the why, what and how we improve processes, and think about better co-ordination and connectivity between all the strategies".

The approach had been too piecemeal in the past with too many strategies from different groups, he said.

• High Court forces Victorian government to repeal electric car tax

The High Court of Australia has deemed Victoria’s road user charge as an excise and is therefore invalid under the Constitution.

In a majority ruling in Vanderstock & Anor v State of Victoria, the High Court found the Zero and Low Emission Vehicle Distance-based Charge Act 2021 (Vic) is invalid under Section 90 of the Constitution as it imposes a duty of excise.

Section 90 says only the Commonwealth Parliament, not the states and territories, can “impose duties of customs and excise”.

The Court overruled a 1974 decision (Dickenson’s Arcade Pty Ltd v Tasmania) on the nature of an excise, arguing the ZLEV charge is “a tax on goods because there is a close relation between the tax and the use of ZLEVs, and the tax affects ZLEVs as articles of commerce, including because of its tendency to affect demand for ZLEVs”.

Section 7 (1) of the ZLEV Charge Act requires owners of electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles registered in Victoria to pay a charge for the use of their vehicle on “specified roads”, which covers all public roads in Australia.

The Court has ruled Victoria must pay the costs of the proceeding.

“We’re disappointed with the outcome but accept the court’s ruling. We will take time to consider the judgment,” said a spokesperson for the Victorian Government.

“Any tax on ZLEVs or any other goods – whether imposed at the stage of their importation into Australia or production or manufacture in Australia or at any subsequent stage in their distribution, sale, ownership, control, use, resale, reuse or destruction in Australia or export from Australia – can be imposed only by uniform national legislation,” reads the High Court judgment.

“The exclusivity of the power of the Commonwealth Parliament to impose duties of excise ensures that such uniform laws of trade or commerce or taxation as the Commonwealth Parliament has chosen to enact (in the form of the exemption from fringe benefits tax and the removal of customs duty) or might afterwards choose to enact for the purpose of stimulating the demand for ZLEVs… cannot be distorted or impeded by State or Territory taxes on ZLEVs or on other goods.

“And if the projected diminution in revenue from the existing fuel excise attributable to the increasing take-up of ZLEVs is to be offset through the introduction of some other tax on ZLEVs or on other goods, that new tax on goods can only be imposed by the Commonwealth Parliament,” the Justices concluded.

The Commonwealth Attorney-General and the Australian Trucking Association intervened in support of the plaintiffs, Christopher Vanderstock and Kathleen Davies, who both own ZLEVs.

Intervening in support of Victoria were the Attorneys-General of every other Australian state, as well as those of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

Victoria introduced its road-user charge on July 1, 2021, and it currently sits at 2.8c/km for electric vehicles (EVs) and 2.3c/km for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

Drivers must provide photographic evidence of their odometer within 14 days of being contacted by VicRoads, to determine the kilometres travelled at the start and end of each registration period – including travel undertaken outside of Victoria.

“There is nothing inherently wrong with road user charges, but they should never be calibrated to discourage the take up of electric vehicles,” said Behyad Jafari, CEO the Electric Vehicle Council which lobbies for EVs in Australia.

“The electric vehicle industry warned the Victorian Government this policy was muddleheaded years ago, and the offer has always been on the table to work with the state on a more sensible approach.

“Any road user charge scheme should be national and we now look forward to working with the federal government on sensible road funding reform, without singling out drivers who are trying to do the right thing.

“Allowing states to simply shake down EV owners for a bit of extra tax is a retrograde approach, and I’m very glad to see the High Court slamming the brakes on that today.”

Victoria isn’t the only state to have proposed a road-user charge. The New South Wales and Western Australian governments have previously pledged to roll out similar taxes around 2027, while South Australia pledged to do the same but reversed course following a change in government.

https://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/pub...2023-10-18.pdf

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• Charged up: how two EV owners took on Victoria’s electric vehicle tax – and won

Kathleen Davies remembers driving an electric vehicle in 2012, and how it felt as if she was commuting in a spaceship.

“There were hardly any on the road – it felt quite bizarre,” she says.

Her family were in the minority almost a decade ago when they bought their first electric vehicle. Davies had been inspired to lead a more environmentally sustainable life after reading The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, one of Australia’s leading climate writers.

Another Melbourne driver, Chris Vanderstock, is similarly a proponent of electric vehicles and their environmental benefits, and now owns two.

On Wednesday, after joining forces, Vanderstock and Davies had their fight for greener transport vindicated by the nation’s highest court. They were the two plaintiffs in a landmark high court case that struck down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax.

The pair had argued that the imposition of a tax, charged per kilometre ​driven, was unconstitutional because the states do not have the power to impose such excise taxes on consumption.

Davies, an engineering consultant, bought her family’s first electric vehicle in 2012 for almost $60,000 – “more money than I’d ever spent on any car”.

But when the Victorian government’s tax was introduced in 2021, Davies began a flurry of activism – ringing politicians, signing petitions and writing letters objecting to the levy.

“It was an obstacle to electric vehicle uptake and we need to do all we can to de-carbonise the roads. I felt like I was being punished for trying to do the right thing,” she says.

Davies says reading coverage of the eight Australian teenagers who won a landmark climate litigation case against the then federal environment minister Sussan Ley – which was overturned on appeal – sparked her determination to pursue a legal case against the tax.

“I thought if they can do it, this is another thing I can do,” she recalls.

“It was a leap in the unknown but my husband said ‘just go for it’. He could see I was getting more activated. It was the fear that turned into anger, and that’s what drove me.”

Davies and Vanderstock were represented by Equity Generation Lawyers, which represented the eight teenagers.

Vanderstock, who works as a nurse manager, says he was “ecstatic” to win the high-stakes case.

He says leaving a legacy for his children, by helping reduce emissions on the state’s roads, was a major driver for pursuing the case.

“I wanted them to be proud of something I had done here,” he says.

The court’s decision will likely prevent New South Wales and Western Australia from proceeding with plans to introduce road-user charges from 2027 and could spark constitutional challenges to everything from gaming taxes, to car registration and waste levies.

Vanderstock says he hopes the ruling will pave the way for the Albanese government to implement a national road-user charge that is “fair and equitable”, and help accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.

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• Why the high court struck out Victoria’s EV tax – and the far-reaching effects of the decision

The high court has decided Victoria’s electric vehicles tax is invalid in a ruling the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, labelled a “surprise” and the Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, described as “very contentious”.

Not only has it put a stop a to road-user charges in Victoria, it is likely to halt plans to do the same in NSW and Western Australia. It could also spark constitutional challenges to everything from gaming taxes and car registration payments to waste levies.

So what caused the ruling, and why has it got states and territories in a panic?

What was the issue?

Victoria introduced a distance-based charge for drivers of zero-emission and low-emission vehicles. The law charges electric and hydrogen vehicle owners 2.8c for each kilometre they travel during the year, and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners 2.3c for each kilometre. Hybrid vehicles were exempt. The tax was designed to recoup lost revenue from EV drivers, who do not pay the petrol excise.

Two electric car drivers filed a challenge in the high court arguing that this was unconstitutional because the states do not have the power to impose such excise taxes on the consumption of goods.

What did the court decide?

Four justices of the high court – the chief justice, Susan Kiefel, and justices Stephen Gageler, Jacqueline Gleeson, and Jayne Jagot – agreed that the Victorian EV charge was invalid.

The judges in the majority reopened and overruled the 1974 decision of Dickenson’s Arcade Pty Ltd v Tasmania, which held that a tax on the consumption of goods does not constitute a duty of excise.

The court concluded that a prohibited state excise was a tax closely related to the production or manufacture, sale, distribution or consumption of goods, which could affect its manufacture or production.

In the Victorian case, the EV charge was found to be a tax on goods because there is a close relationship between the tax and the use of EVs, and the tax affects demand for EVs.

Did everyone agree?

No, three of the seven judges dissented in judgments that were highly critical.

Much more in the article

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• Teal MPs call for national road-user charges after high court shuts down Victoria’s EV tax

Teal independent MPs have welcomed the high court’s decision to strike down Victoria’s electric vehicle tax, urging the federal government to instead legislate national road-user charges.

Zoe Daniel, Allegra Spender, Monique Ryan and Kylea Tink have all called for road use charges to apply fairly to all vehicles, with a nationally consistent scheme that does not target EVs.

On Thursday the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, left the door open to the proposal, indicating that federal Labor wanted to “work with the Victorians and with the other states and territories on policy relating to electric vehicles” to respond to the high court’s decision.

The high court ruled that the imposition of a tax by the Victorian government for each kilometre ​driven was unconstitutional because the states do not have the power to impose such excise taxes on consumption.

Ryan said she welcomed the decision since Victoria’s tax “could have actively disincentivised drivers from transitioning to EVs” which would be a “retrograde step”.

Ryan also said she didn’t support “individual states and territories’ bitsy little taxes that contribute to [the] complexity of our tax system, without a national approach to an important problem”.

“The federal government should lead this,” she said. “We need a national plan that works out how to maintain our roads in a way that’s fair, and aimed at helping, not hindering, electrification of transport.”

Daniel said the decision was “a wake-up call for the Albanese government”.


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• 'Real world' car-testing to probe fuel economy promises

The "real world" emissions of up to 200 popular vehicles will be tested and compared to promises from automakers in a $14 million scheme designed to ensure consumers are not being misled.

The Real-World Testing Program, announced on Wednesday, will be run by the Australian Automobile Association over four years and funded by the federal government.

The first results of vehicle testing are expected to be released next month.

The scheme follows a AAA investigation into 30 vehicles that found tailpipe emissions often exceeded estimates, and after Volkswagen was caught using software to evade pollution tests for some of its vehicles.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the program, along with Transport Minister Catherine King and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, after committing funds in the 2022 budget.

Ms King said the program would give consumers greater confidence when choosing between cars.

"The vehicle models currently being tested include small and medium SUVs which account for around one quarter of new car sales in Australia, so I look forward to seeing these first testing results being released in coming weeks," she said.

AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said the program was designed to help buyers make informed decisions to suit their budgets and environmental concerns without relying on information supplied by the manufacturer.

"Australian car buyers have for too long been misled regarding their vehicle's fuel consumption and environmental performance," Mr Bradley said.

"This program will deliver Australians truth in advertising and drive down demand for cars that over-promise and under-deliver."

The program will examine up to 200 cars, utes and vans at the AAA's Geelong facility, using tests based on those used by the European Commission.

The vehicles will be tested on a 93km route around the Victorian town on urban streets, rural roads and motorways.

The results, to be published at realworld.org.au, will feature details of the vehicle's fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, and noxious tailpipe emissions such as nitrogen that affect air quality.

A pilot test run by the AAA in 2017 found only three out of 30 vehicles tested met fuel consumption estimates provided by manufacturers, but the group exceeded estimates by an average of 23 per cent.

Tests showed one plug-in hybrid vehicle used more than twice the amount of petrol advertised even when its battery was fully charged.

In 2015, Volkswagen was caught out evading emission testing by the US Environmental Protection Agency using software that recognised when its diesel vehicles were being assessed.

The emissions scandal reportedly cost the automaker more than $52 billion in penalties and settlements.

Australia's new vehicle-testing results will come in addition to laboratory test data available online in the Green Vehicle Guide.

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• Labor’s EV strategy ‘hamstrung’ by delayed fuel efficiency standard, advocates say

Climate and transport advocates say the Albanese government’s showpiece electric vehicle strategy has achieved little and remains “hamstrung” six months after its release as the industry continues to wait for details of a fuel efficiency standard.

In mid-April, the government unveiled what was Australia’s first national electric vehicle strategy, which included ideas to support investment in charging infrastructure, guidance for apartment-dwellers wanting to own EVs and recycling programs for large batteries.

The strategy did not include targets for EV uptake or details of a fuel efficiency standard.

Instead, the government began a consultation period to develop Australia’s fuel efficiency standard – something neglected by the Coalition but first flagged by the climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, in August 2022.

Fuel efficiency standards set by governments create a cap for emissions across a manufacturer’s overall sales. This provides an incentive for carmakers to supply low- and zero-emissions vehicles and penalises companies that do not.

This August, the government revealed that the introduction of a fuel efficiency standard had been “overwhelmingly” supported throughout public consultation.

However, the path to legislating the standard and giving enough notice ahead of its start date has some worried there might be a rush to implement it before the next federal election.

Dr Jennifer Rayner, the head of advocacy at the Climate Council, said the organisation was “surprised to see the policy discussion take this long”.

“It’s great to see the government is speaking to stakeholders, but fundamentally [fuel efficiency standards] are in place in 85% of the world’s car market, it should not be this complicated to design one for Australia,” she said.

“There are about a million cars sold each year in Australia, most of them petrol cars, so the longer we wait, the longer we are seeing dirtier, more expensive to run cars come on to our roads.”

Guardian Australia understands details of the proposed standard are expected in coming weeks. The policy is seen as a key part of Australia achieving its 2030 target of reducing emissions by 43% from 2005 levels.

While charging infrastructure and funding measures had allowed some progress in the six months since the government’s EV strategy was released, Rayner said the fuel efficiency standard was fundamental.

“The rest of the strategy is hamstrung until we have the fuel efficiency standard in place,” Rayner said.

Australia’s lack of a fuel efficiency standard has led to local EV supply issues. The industry reports new electric cars often sell out within hours of coming on the market.

Part 1 of 2

• ATCO and BOC Linde win preferred contractor status for the world’s largest hydrogen plant, in South Australia

Global giants ATCO and BOC Linde have been named preferred contractors to build a $593 million hydrogen plant and storage facility near Whyalla in South Australia, just 6km from billionaire Sanjeev Gupta’s Whyalla steelworks.

The two foreign players, which represent a larger consortium, were chosen from a field of 29 proposals for the plant, to be owned by SA taxpayers and operating by early 2026. Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries was among the groups that missed out.

Canada’s ATCO has a large Australian business, while European industrial gas and engineering group BOC Linde is part of the $US179 billion ($283 billion) Linde Group. They are the preferred contractors to build a 250-megawatt hydrogen production facility, 200-megawatt hydrogen power plant and a hydrogen storage facility.

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said the abundant sunshine and wind at the site, which is on land owned by the Whyalla council, meant the state would be able to produce hydrogen inexpensively.

“We can produce it here in South Australia cheaper than anywhere else in the world if we play our cards right,” he said on Sunday.

He also said the $593 million budget for the project “remains unchanged” even though it was set almost 18 months ago, before steep rises in inflation that have caused cost overruns at many large infrastructure projects around the world.

Asked about the prospect of commercial agreements for the GFG Alliance-owned Whyalla steelworks to become a customer of the hydrogen plant, Mr Malinauskas said it was too early for anything concrete, but such an idea had been raised with Mr Gupta.

Growth strategy

“Yes, we are engaging with GFG,” he said.

The hydrogen plant and associated infrastructure is a centrepiece of the economic growth strategy of the SA Premier, who said clean hydrogen could be used to firm up the state’s electricity grid.

“We are in a race globally,” Mr Malinauskas said. While the United States was making strong headway in establishing a hydrogen industry, SA’s long sunshine hours and strong winds in the upper Spencer Gulf region near Whyalla meant it was well-positioned.

In Australia, there is huge emphasis on the production of green hydrogen, which uses electrolysis powered by renewable energy.

ATCO Australia chief executive John Ivulich said the hydrogen plant would be the largest of its type in the world. “Decarbonisation is complex, but this is world-leading,” he said.

The SA government has also entered into an agreement with SA-based energy infrastructure company Epic Energy to develop an integrated pipeline and hydrogen storage solution for the plant.

SA Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the Whyalla plant would be larger than a 220-megawatt facility under construction in Utah in the US.

Analysts say the hydrogen industry is still in its infancy. Dr Forrest, through his Fortescue Future Industries, is a major advocate for the sector.

The International Renewable Energy Agency forecasts hydrogen will go from accounting for just 0.1 per cent of the world’s energy use currently, to as much as 12 per cent by 2050.

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• Australian hydrogen company boss joins PM on Biden visit to explore US clean energy opportunities

The chief executive of an Australian company that builds commercial-scale electrolysers to split water into hydrogen and oxygen will join a business delegation accompanying the prime minister’s four-day official visit to the US to explore clean energy opportunities created by the Biden administration’s US$369bn Inflation Reduction Act.

Paul Barrett, the chief executive of Hysata, says the company expects to ramp up to as much as one gigawatt of capacity annually within years.

“We’ve delivered ahead of time, ahead of budget and we’re ramping up really rapidly with the space to do it,” Barrett said, referring to the company’s new site near Port Kembla, south of Sydney.

Hysata chief executive officer Paul Barrett and chief technical officer Gerry Swiegers at the company’s Wollongong facility, Australia

“We want to be the world’s biggest electrolyser company and definitely have the technology to do that,” he said.

Hysata, which works on technology originally developed at the University of Wollongong, received more than $23m in grants from the federal and Queensland government. Those funds, along with $42.5m of its own capital raising, will support the development of electrolysers that use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen with about 95% energy efficiency and just 5% waste.

Hydrogen, particularly produced using renewable energy, is expected to become a major new energy source to replace fossil fuels in the production of steel, aluminium and other industrial processes. Among the challenges, though, will be getting the price of hydrogen low enough to compete, particularly in the absence of carbon price.

The company is not expected to make fresh announcements during this week’s visit to the US. Of interest, though, will be exploring opportunities generated by the Biden administration’s US$369bn (A$585bn) clean energy investment portion of the Inflation Reduction Act.

“We’ve got huge interest from the global investment community and in what we’re doing and we’ll be tapping into that at the appropriate time,” Barrett said.

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• Australia's PM Boosts Energy Transition with $2B Minerals Plan

The Albanese Government has announced a $2 billion expansion in critical minerals financing, which will solidify Australia's position as a world leading provider, help the transition to net zero, boost the economy and support more jobs and opportunities for Australians.

Critical minerals, including rare earths, are the building-blocks for a clean energy future, and are essential to achieving Australia's energy transition. This significant commitment will double the capacity of the Critical Minerals Facility to finance Australian critical minerals mining and processing projects.

This expansion of the Critical Minerals Facility takes the Government's value-adding investments in Australian resources to $6 billion. Investing in critical minerals financing will bolster the sector in Australia, resulting in technology, skills, jobs and economic benefits for Australians.

Prime Minister Albanese and Resources Minister Madeleine King announced the $2 billion expansion, surrounded by Australian and US industry leaders, after the inaugural meeting of the Australia-United States Taskforce on Critical Minerals.

This Taskforce is an important component of building our Alliance with the United States for the future and delivers on commitments made by President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese at Hiroshima earlier this year.

A sustainable and reliable supply of critical minerals is vital to supporting the Australian and United States' manufacturing sectors. Australia is ideally positioned to provide responsibly-produced and processed critical minerals to fulfil this demand.

Working with international partners is essential for Australia to deliver on emissions reduction targets, decarbonise our economy and build our clean energy industries.

Cooperation with the United States on critical minerals is central to the Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact. The Compact affirms the position of climate and clean energy as the third pillar of Australia's alliance with the United States.

The expanded Critical Minerals Facility supports the Australian Government's Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030.

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• Down Under ambitions: Australia’s journey to net zero – Darren Miller

This is an edited copy of Darren Miller’s keynote speech in the opening plenary at All Energy Australia on Wednesday 25th October 2023.

Among many items of bad news recently, I’m afraid there has also been bad news on the climate front: last month was the hottest September in modern recorded history and the largest monthly temperature anomaly by a wide margin.

Many in this room are here because of your concern for the climate, and these new facts further emphasise the importance of our work in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and working diligently to achieve our emissions reduction targets.

We know that we are making progress in the electricity system with new renewable penetration records being broken constantly. At times renewable energy makes up over 70 per cent of generation in the National Electricity Market.

Our world-leading obsession with rooftop solar continues and we’re also seeing encouraging take-up of electric vehicles, which now represent over 8 per cent of new light vehicle sales.

However, things are going more slowly in the heavy transport and industrial sectors where renewable energy solutions are not yet cost competitive with fossil fuels.

Progress in the industrial sector in particular, which accounts for around 30 per cent of our emissions, is critical to achieve our emissions reduction goals and set us up as a renewable energy superpower.

What are the benefits of decarbonisation?

If industry can get on track with its decarbonisation opportunities, then it can:

• Play its part in helping reduce our domestic emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.
• Help to maintain jobs and economic activity in our regions.
• And set Australia up to capitalise on the world’s shift to green products like green aluminium, green ammonia, hydrogen and critical minerals and metals.

While electrification of our homes and vehicles are critical parts of the energy transition, we need to consider how all of these new clean technologies are made. Solar panels, electric cars and batteries require a host of exotic materials. All of these things come from the industrial sector – from mining, refining, manufacturing and transportation.

The reality is, none of our new clean technologies are truly green unless the whole upstream supply chain is also green.

Many people working in heavy industry today would prefer cheaper coal, gas and petroleum products, and for their operations to otherwise remain largely unchanged. After all, change is hard and costly.

And so, we in the renewables industry need to work closely with people in industry, because the world is changing rapidly and highly carbon-intensive businesses have no long-term future unless they make the change to renewables.

The importance of Industry

Much more in the article

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• Albanese’s high speed rail agency on a slow track, saying it’s busy with ‘strategic plan’

A year and a half after Labor took a vision for high speed rail to the 2022 election, the agency setup to develop the project hasn’t started planning the line, and won’t begin until next year, as it is busy with its “strategic plan” and “organisational strategy”.

The glacial pace of the Albanese government’s fast train ambitions was revealed during budget estimates late on Monday night. The project drew comparisons to Utopia – the TV series satirising the absurdity of government bureaucracy – after its chief referred questions about progress to a “corporate plan” published on its website.

The establishment of the High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) was flagged by the government in its initial plans for its east coast high speed rail line, along with a commitment of $500m for planning for the Sydney-Newcastle section of the corridor to be built first.

The HSRA only formally came into existence in June, after legislation was passed paving the way for the abolishment of the National Faster Rail Agency (NFRA), a body established by the Morrison government in 2019 which did not deliver on earlier high speed rail projects.

A six car XPT class diesel rail car at the historic rural Bowral railway station in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia<br>2HKMJNB A six car XPT class diesel rail car at the historic rural Bowral railway station in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia

Andrew Hyles, the interim chief executive officer of the High Speed Rail Authority, told senators on Monday that detailed planning had yet to begin.

“We’ve got a statement of expectations that the minister has issued to us. Under that statement of expectations, we need to complete a strategic plan by the end of the year and an organisational strategy by the end of the year,” he said.

“So that’s our focus initially, and then more detailed planning will kick off next year,” Hyles said.

Part 2 of 2

• Surging renewable energy sees record supply to Australia’s electricity grid

For a half hour in the middle of a Saturday last month, enough renewable energy was available to meet all but 1.4% of eastern Australia’s entire electricity demand – the closest to reaching 100% clean power in the grid’s history.

Renewables also supplied 38.9% of average demand across the national electricity market (Nem) in the September quarter, the most for any third quarter, according to a report by the Australian energy market operator (Aemo).

Total carbon emissions from the power sector, Australia’s biggest single source, were down 11% on a year ago. The share of generation from gas fell by almost a third and black coal by 7.5%, even though both fuels were slapped with price caps this year by the Albanese government.

Sunny skies as rain clouds disappeared contributed to an abundance of solar output, driving prices on the wholesale spot market negative for 19% of the time. That proportion was more than double that of the September quarter of 2022, and smashed the previous record 9.2% share in the June quarter of this year.

For the September quarter, wholesale power prices in the Nem averaged $63 per megawatt hour, down 41% on the previous three months and 71% lower than a year earlier, as Guardian Australia reported. Average wholesale gas prices on the east coast cratered to $10.41 per gigajoule from $25.94/GJ a year earlier.

Wholesale price reductions, though, would need to be sustained to make much difference to households’ retail energy bills. These are typically set annually.

Electricity demand is also expected to reverse recent declines, with prospects of a hot summer firming as an El Niño takes hold. Air-conditioner use was limited during the past three relatively damp and cool La Niña summers.

During the noon-12.30pm period on 16 September, renewables met a record 70% of power demand in the Nem, including 39% from rooftop solar. Clean energy was sufficient to meet almost all demand in eastern Australia and Tasmania.

“Potential renewable output hit a record 98.6%, which combines dispatched generation and available wind and solar farms that were bidding above the spot price and therefore not dispatched into the wholesale market,” said Violette Mouchaileh, an Aemo executive.

Despite the September quarter covering most of winter, when sun irradiance is relatively low, rooftop solar output reached as much as 11.9 gigawatts, 3% more than the previous record.

Solar farms’ maximum output during the quarter also rose 7% from its previous quarterly peak to just under 6GW, while wind farms generated as much 8GW, or 10% more than their previous high.

South Australia’s supplies from the grid almost disappeared entirely during a 30-minute stint on 16 September, with operational demand at a record low of just 21MW.

New South Wales and Victoria also set record minimum operational demands during the quarter, while Queensland had its lowest since 2002.

The market easily absorbed the closure in April of AGL Energy’s Liddell power station in NSW’s Hunter Valley.

Other NSW coal plants expanded available capacity but actual average output sank 166MW as they struggled to compete with renewables.

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• Petrol prices spiked 7% in September quarter and there’s more pain to come, Australian treasurer suggests

Australians are feeling the impact of inflation at the petrol pump with the latest data expected to show fuel prices rose by more than 7% in the three months to the end of September.

Treasury estimates the latest consumer price index data for the September quarter, to be released on Wednesday, will reveal the soaring cost of petrol brought on by global factors including the war in Ukraine, supply constraints and the weaker Australian dollar.

The rising cost of fuel will add around a quarter of a percentage point to inflation for the three months, Treasury estimates.

The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has warned prices could rise further as the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East worsens.

“While inflation is moderating overall, it’s more persistent globally and so it will be more persistent here as well – and we expect to see some of this reflected in the quarterly inflation figures this week,” Chalmers said.

“Whether it’s global cuts to oil production, the war in Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle East, the challenges coming at us from around the world are being felt around the kitchen tables of hardworking Australians.

“Although it won’t have an impact on inflation in the September quarter, conflict in the Middle East is adding further uncertainty to petrol prices.”

Australian Bureau of Statistics data for August revealed fuel prices rose 9.1% in August with the cost of unleaded petrol rising an average of 17 cents a litre. The monthly average price of petrol reached 200 cents a litre.

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• Qld to legislate commitments to renewable targets

The Queensland government will legislate commitments to renewable energy targets, after a bill was tabled to state parliament.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said her government will legislate commitments to 50 per cent of the state's energy being renewable by 2030, 70 per cent by 2032 and 80 per cent by 2035.

The government hopes to secure 54 per cent majority public ownership for generation assets, and full ownership of transmission assets.

The bill will also legislate a job security guarantee under the Queensland Energy Workers Charter.

"Today we forge ahead on that journey by introducing the laws that will guide our transition from coal-fired power to renewable energy in our state," Ms Palaszczuk told parliament on Tuesday.

"By delivering reliable, affordable and renewable power for manufacturing jobs supporting our regions.

"We can do this because we own our assets, and this bill is all about continuing that into the future."

The decision has been welcomed by the Queensland Conservation Council (QCC), which called on the state opposition to endorse the laws.

With a state election 12 months away, the QCC said bipartisan support to transform Queensland's energy system is vital for consumers, workers and the environment.

"Every new solar and wind project that connects to the grid is bringing down power bills, reducing the state's emissions and creating regional jobs. That's a win-win-win for our hip-pocket, environment and economy," said QCC director Dave Copeman.

"We need the state opposition to back this legislation to demonstrate they are committed to ending the climate and energy wars, and getting on with the transition to clean, renewable energy."

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• Australia urgently needs a grid upgrade – but the march of new power lines faces a bush revolt

If you ask Paul and Andrea Sturgess how much their view is worth, the answer is: priceless. To the electricity transmission network operator Transgrid, it’s less than $800,000.

Their property beside the Blowering Reservoir in southern New South Wales is a uniquely Australian sight. Big brushstrokes of wattle creep up the ridge, clumps of yellow sitting between burnt-out gums – a legacy of the black summer bushfires of 2019-20.

The Sturgess farm, where they run cattle and harvest eucalyptus oil, has been in Paul’s family since the 1950s. There were two electricity connections through it when he inherited it. He and Andrea don’t want any more.

“These lines went in in the 70s and I’ve lived with them ever since,” he says. “And there’s not a day goes by that the lines don’t affect me somehow.

“Either I see them or I hear them or I’m trying to do something in the paddock, plough a paddock, move the cattle, and those lines are in the road.”

The Sturgesses are part of an increasingly agitated argument over how Australia will embrace the clean energy needed to respond to the climate crisis and what that means for its natural landscape.

The federal government has set a goal of 82% of electricity coming from renewable energy by 2030, up from about 35% today. This transformation, replacing ageing and failing coal plants with solar and windfarms and back-up energy storage, is necessary to meet its climate targets and set up Australia for a zero emissions future.

Its path to get there is based on advice from the Australian Energy Market Operator, which has laid out a blueprint involving a series of major new electricity connections between the five eastern states. The operator estimates the country needs more than 10,000km of new transmission lines and a ninefold increase in large-scale wind and solar energy.

To achieve this, the federal government has committed $20bn in low-cost finance for “rewiring the nation”. State governments in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland have announced their own renewable energy targets, including carving out new zones for development that have to be connected to the power grid. It is a huge collective undertaking being managed by a mix of national and state electricity agencies and business.

At the moment, the rewiring and renewable energy rollout is struggling. Analyses suggest the pace of construction and connection will need to at least double if the country is to get near the 2030 target, and political debate has turned to whether the life of some coal plants should be extended.

There are also pockets of opposition to the rewiring project that extend beyond traditional renewable energy blockers in the federal Nationals party room. Issues raised include concern about a lack of effective community consultation during planning, confusion over inconsistent compensation arrangements and questions about how best to limit the impact on farming land and nature.

Many more complaints in the article

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• Australian Uber drivers offered 10,000 BYD electric cars in EV push

Ride-share drivers will be given quick access to 10,000 electric vehicles as part of a deal between Uber and BYD that is designed to boost the number of low-emission cars in Australia.

The partnership, revealed on Wednesday, will see BYD Atto 3 electric vehicles offered to ride-share and food delivery drivers on flexible loans, and comes as the tech firm launches its first all-electric ride-share service in Australia.

If adopted by drivers, the deal could have a significant impact on the number of electric vehicles in Australia as the figure would represent more than a month of new EV sales.

Uber Australia and New Zealand managing director Dom Taylor said the company had been investigating ways to help drivers buy low-emission vehicles since 2021, with a goal to become a zero-emissions platform by 2040.

In that time, he said, the number of electric vehicles on Uber’s Australian platform had risen from fewer than 100 cars to more than 2400, but high prices and low supplies continued to slow progress.

“We asked drivers did they want to make the transition to EV and two thirds said yes but only 19 per cent believed their next car was going to be an EV,” he said.

“It was because of the high up-front cost associated with the car.”

Mr Taylor said the uptake of electric cars in Australia allowed Uber to launch its first service solely for electric vehicles, called Comfort Electric, but it would only be available for business customers initially.

The service would be launched more widely, he said, when more electric cars had been added to the platform.

“We’re a touch under two per cent (of kilometres travelled in electric vehicles) and we need that to be 100 per cent by 2040 and that’s why we need to invest,” he said.

“We think the next five years is going to be a key period for the uptake of EVs here in Australia.”

Australian motorists have bought more than 65,000 new electric cars this year, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, up from more than 21,000 during the same period in 2022.

But the nation continues to lag other countries in low-emission transport, with electric vehicles representing 14 per cent of new cars worldwide in 2022 but only 3.8 per cent in Australia.

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• Cost of living: Rooftop solar panels, home batteries slash Victorian and NSW household’s energy bills as renewables gain traction

Households could save up to $2000 with solar panels and batteries, data shows

Households with rooftop solar panels can save more than $1000 a year on their electricity bills and double that amount with a home battery, according to data released by the federal government as it rejects an opposition push to pause the renewable energy rollout.

Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water analysis found rooftop solar panels would cut about 39 per cent, or $687, from the average default Victorian household electricity bill of $1756 this financial year.

The addition of an 8.5 kilowatt-hour battery – to store power from the solar panels to use when the sun isn’t shining – would lift the saving to $1322, or 75 per cent.

In NSW, solar panels would reduce the average $2106 default bill by $1015, or 48 per cent, a year. An 8.5 kilowatt-hour battery would boost the discount to $2123, or 101 per cent, including earnings from feeding power from the battery back into the electricity grid.

Cost of living pressures are a key issue for the Albanese government, as rising energy prices drive up inflation and advocacy groups warn that another round of power bill relief is needed before the end of the year.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Thursday the data highlighted the difference rooftop solar and batteries could make to household bills, while pushing back against Coalition claims it is engaging in a “reckless race to renewables”.

• Australia signs High Seas Biodiversity Treaty

Australia has joined like-minded nations, including Pacific partners, as a founding signatory of the historic High Seas Biodiversity Treaty.

The Treaty delivers stronger protections for the ocean under the framework of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, including by providing a mechanism for establishing marine protected areas on the high seas.

It will also play an important role in achieving the global target to protect 30 per cent of the world’s coastal and marine areas by 2030.

As a demonstration of our commitment to the Treaty, Australia will deliver $3 million through the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner over the next three years to support Pacific countries to sign and ratify.

The Australian Government’s signing of this Treaty demonstrates our enduring commitment to multilateralism, which remains critical to tackling global challenges including the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Quote attributable to Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong:

“Australia has today signed a historic global treaty to protect the world’s ocean.”

“We have worked alongside our Pacific partners to make this treaty a reality - safeguarding our Blue Pacific for future generations.”

“Australia is working to ratify the treaty and bring it into force as soon as possible.”

Quote attributable to Minister for the Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP:

“The High Seas cover 60 per cent of the world’s surface and only about one per cent of these oceans are currently protected. International cooperation to protect and manage them is crucial. This treaty will enable us to meet our global goal of protecting 30 per cent of our earth’s oceans.

“Australians know how important marine parks are in our own country – sanctuaries for precious marine life to grow and flourish. This treaty allows us to establish marine parks in the high seas, leading to stronger protections for oceans around the world.

“Since coming to office the Albanese Government has been a leader on the world stage in ocean protection – from our role at the UN Oceans Conference last year to establishing the new Macquarie Island Marine Park in the Southern Ocean, giving an area larger than Germany high protection.

“Our oceans need stronger environmental protections world-wide and this will help to deliver that.”

https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/m...versity-treaty