Keeping tabs on Australia"s newly elected Government

**S Landreth** · 11-06-2025, 11:54 AM

Australian government to declare almost a third of its oceans ‘highly protected’ in the next five years

The Australian government plans to declare 30% of its ocean “highly protected” by 2030, raising expectations from conservationists it will ban fishing and drilling in nearly a third of the country’s waters.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, told the UN Ocean Conference in France a review of 44 of Australia’s marine parks would “lay the foundation” to increase the area of the country’s ocean with higher levels of protection.

Some 52% of Australia’s ocean area has previously been declared marine park since the late 1990s, giving different levels of protection to wildlife and habitats, but only 24% has levels of protection that keep out all forms of fishing and extraction.

“It’s clear that Australia can achieve 30% of our marine protected area estate in highly protected areas by 2030 and a three-year review of our remaining 44 marine parks will lay the foundation for this,” Watt said.

The term “highly protected” means all extractive activities are banned – which can include fishing, drilling and mining.

Conservationists welcomed the commitment, but said the ocean was also under assault from global heating and Australia needed to set more ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 2035, beyond the current 2030 goal of a 43% cut, based on 2005 levels, by 2030.

Watt told a reception at the conference that Australia protected “more ocean than any other country on Earth” and 1.3m sq km of highly protected areas had been added in the past three years – an area almost the size of the Northern Territory.

“A healthy ocean is critical to Australia’s environment, economy and wellbeing,” Watt said.

“Australia may be a large country, but our ocean territory is bigger than our land mass and is central to our national identity.”

Watt also confirmed the government would introduce legislation before the end of the year to allow the ratification of a high seas biodiversity treaty, which the country signed in September 2023 but had not yet ratified.

Christabel Mitchell, the oceans director at Pew Charitable Trusts, said: “Fully protected marine sanctuaries are the heart of a healthy ocean. They are critical breeding and feeding grounds for the fish, seals, whales, turtles and other marine life which go on to populate our oceans.

“Australia has some of the most diverse and magnificent oceans on the planet and it’s our privilege and responsibility to protect them.”

As reported in the Guardian, swathes of corals on reefs across vast areas of Western Australian coastline have died in recent months after an unprecedented marine heatwave scientists said was fuelled by global heating.

Adele Pedder, a campaigner for marine protected areas at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said some of Australia’s most critical areas were still under-protected, but “increased protection needed to be matched by increased ambition on climate change”.

Pedder said “highly protected” marine areas excluded all fishing and extractive activities, such as drilling.

She said: “Science has shown us that these fully protected areas give resilience to ecosystems so they have a fighting chance in the face of climate change.”

Recent approvals of fossil fuel projects showed the weakness in the country’s environment laws “that the government absolutely needs to address”, she said.

The Albanese government has promised to set an emissions reduction target for 2035 ahead of this November’s UN climate talks in Brazil.

Richard Leck, the head of oceans at WWF Australia, said that target needed to be in line with keep global heating to 1.5C – a “critical threshold” for coral reefs.

Australia’s commitment to increasing marine sanctuaries and ratifying the high seas treaty was a “significant step forward”, he said.

A new documentary from David Attenborough, called Ocean, has also called on the UN Ocean Conference to ratify the high seas treaty and push for the goal to have 30% of the planet’s oceans highly protected in areas known as marine sanctuaries.

“Australia has just committed to both the actions called for by Sir David Attenborough,” Leck said.

“Ocean ecosystems are incredibly resilient when you reduce the threats that they face. We see this time and time again. Marine sanctuaries aren’t just for biodiversity. They’re an insurance policy for the fishing industry as well.”

**S Landreth** · 13-06-2025, 11:58 AM

Cost of net zero by 2050 may determine whether Coalition abandons emissions goal, shadow minister says

The financial cost to reach net zero by 2050 may shape the Coalition’s decision on whether to retain or abandon the target, the new shadow minister, Dan Tehan, says, as he prepares to lead a heavily contested internal review of the policy.

The opposition is poised for a protracted brawl over climate targets after the new Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, put all of its policies up for debate after the Coalition’s federal election defeat.

The Coalition remained deeply torn on net zero, with Nationals such as Matt Canavan and Barnaby Joyce campaigning for the commitment to be dumped and Liberals including Andrew Hastie – touted by some as a future leader – expressing fresh scepticism about the goal.

In his first interview with Guardian Australia as the shadow energy and emissions reduction minister, Tehan said there was “room for all voices to be heard” in the debate.

Asked whether it was possible to land an agreed position, given such divergent views, Tehan said: “That’s the challenge that Sussan (Ley) has asked me to undertake.

“I mightn’t have many capabilities but one I do have is dogged determination.”

Tehan said details about the review process would be released imminently, with the Coalition’s position on the Paris agreement and gas reservation scheme also up for debate.

The Liberals and Nationals have already walked back the Peter Dutton-era nuclear energy plan, agreeing to pledge to lift the federal moratorium but stopping short of committing to building government-owned power plants.

As the opposition weighs up the pros and cons of pursuing net zero, Tehan signalled the economic cost of decarbonising the economy would be the main consideration.

“The cost will be one of the most significant factors that will drive our decision,” Tehan said, accusing the government of obscuring the cost of signature climate policies, including the capacity investment scheme.

The government does not have a dollar figure for achieving net zero by 2050.

However, in response to a recent Senate estimates question on notice that sought such a number, climate department officials warned of the significant cost of “climate inaction” for Australia.

The response – dated 29 May – referenced the 2023 intergenerational report, which estimated the commonwealth could be forced to spend an extra $130bn on disaster payments by the 2060s due to climate-fuelled disasters including bushfire and floods.

Tehan wants to focus the wider climate and energy debate around economics, vowing to apply more scrutiny to the cost of Labor’s renewables-focused path to net zero than it was subjected to during the election.

Senior Coalition MPs have conceded Dutton’s campaign was too slow to counter Labor’s attacks on its supposed $600bn nuclear reactors, allowing that claim to overshadow questioning of the price tag for the government’s approach.

“What I’m going to do is, I’m actually going to say to Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen, ‘what are the true costs of your approach’,” Tehan said.

“I will hold them to account on that. And that, I think, will make us very competitive at the next election. They might actually find that they’re going to be held to account in the same way they tried to hold us to account.”

Along with the proposed taxpayer-funded nuclear power plants, Dutton’s plan for an east coast gas reservation scheme represented a significant government intervention that caused unease among free-market Liberals MPs.

Tehan said while government intervention was appropriate in cases of “market failure”, the priority should be to stimulate private investment.

If Albanese secures a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7, Tehan said the prime minister should confront the US president about his intention to pull out of the Paris agreement and what impact that might have on Australia.

Tehan said Albanese should also ask Trump if he would attend next year’s UN climate summit if Australia won the hosting rights.

The Guardian

**S Landreth** · Yesterday, 12:01 PM

Albanese sets off for G7 meeting in Canada

Anthony Albanese is leaving Canberra this morning to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in Canada early next week, a trip that will include stops in Fiji and the United States. A meeting with US president Donald Trump could take place on the sidelines of the meeting in Kananaskis – but it is yet to be officially locked in.

The prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the European Union will also be at the summit.

On Friday, Albanese will meet in Nadi with his Fijian counterpart, Sitiveni Rabuka, for talks on climate change and regional security in Nadi. In Seattle over the weekend he will meet with business leaders to discuss technology and artificial intelligence.

Once in Canada early next week, Albanese will participate in G7 discussions on global energy, critical minerals, secure supply chains and infrastructure. The prime minister said:

Visiting Fiji so soon after the election is a deliberate decision to reinforce my government’s Pacific priorities and to exchange views with my dear friend prime minister Rabuka, a respected Pacific statesman.

I am honoured to be invited by prime minister Carney to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in Alberta as a key partner.

I look forward to working productively with world leaders to discuss how we tackle some of the most challenging issues facing Australia, our region and the world

The Guardian

Anthony Albanese bound for G7 summit after quick stop in Fiji

**S Landreth** · Today, 12:11 PM

Albanese to spruik free trade as salve to turmoil at G7 but Australia still struggling to secure meeting with Trump

Anthony Albanese will tell Donald Trump and the leaders of the world’s biggest economies that free trade can help calm rising global insecurity, as next week’s G7 summit looks set to be dominated by conflict in the Middle East.

The prime minister will visit technology giant Amazon’s Seattle headquarters on Sunday, on his way to talks with world leaders in Alberta next week, a trip he hopes will include his first face-to-face meeting with the US president.

Amazon and the federal government are building new top-secret data centres in Melbourne, set to allow the country’s military and intelligence agencies to collaborate with overseas partners on highly secured networks.

But, after Israel’s strikes on Iran and a retaliatory barrage of missiles ordered by Tehran, the meeting in Kananaskis is expected to focus on the fallout from the Middle East crisis.

Albanese will tell business leaders on Sunday that the summit will be focused “on the significant security and economic challenges facing the world”.

“But we should not lose sight of the profound opportunities that can be realised by closer and deeper cooperation,” he will say at the event hosted by Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd.

He will talk up the government’s plans on energy security and critical minerals, expected to be offered up in negotiations with the US as Australia seeks an exemption from Trump’s punishing aluminium tariffs.

“We will continue to advocate for free and fair trade, for the jobs it creates and the investment it drives,” Albanese will say.

“We will hold true to the principles of shared opportunity and collective responsibility that are vital to building a more secure, prosperous and stable region – and world.”

The federal government has so far failed to lock in a meeting with the US president on the sidelines of the G7.

Albanese is part of a long list of world leaders seeking their first face time, including the European Union’s Ursula von der Leyen and the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

The Pentagon’s review of the Aukus nuclear submarines agreement will be a top agenda item if Albanese and Trump hold talks.

The shadow defence minister, Angus Taylor, said Albanese should “do whatever is necessary to get a meeting with the president at this time”.

So far the Amazon project, dubbed the Top Secret Cloud, will see the federal government fund construction of new data centre facilities and pay for their use. Additional investments are expected, as Albanese called the deal a demonstration of joint Australian-US ties.

The world’s largest cloud computing company, Amazon already has significant deals to provide national security systems in the US and United Kingdom. The data centres provide access to Amazon cloud products as well as critical backup capabilities for an outage event taking government servers offline.

Albanese is expected to meet with executives from companies including BHP, Diraq, Trellis Health, Airwallex and Anthropic while in the US.

The G7 host, the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has ditched the practice of a lengthy joint statement from summit participants. Trump objected to a series of similar communiques in his first term.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued updated travel advice for Israel on Friday, warning nowhere in the country was safe for travel due to the volatile security situation.

_________

Anthony Albanese locks in first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump at G7 summit in Canada

Anthony Albanese will meet the US president, Donald Trump, face-to-face for the first time next week, using talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada to press the case for an exemption to trade tariffs and talk up the Aukus agreement.

**S Landreth** · Today, 05:29 PM

No military role for Australia in Middle East conflict – PM

Anthony Albanese says he doesn’t expect Australia to have any military role in the growing Middle East conflict.

Israel and Iran have traded missiles in recent days after the bombing of nuclear sites late last week. Missiles have been fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and at least two Iranian oil facilities are on fire.

The UK government has moved jets and other military assets to the Middle East over the weekend.

During a visit to Seattle on his way to the G7 summit in Canada on Monday, Albanese was asked about any request for support from Australia. The PM said officials were monitoring the situation but there had been no request for defence involvement. “Australia does not play a role in this military conflict,” he said.

I wouldn’t expect that there would be a request for Australia to play a military role, but we will continue to play a role in terms of looking after Australian citizens.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing assistance to Australians on the ground.

The Guardian

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