While Australia criticises other countries for their expansionist policies, it claims to own 42% of Antarctica. And although citing a “staunch commitment” to environmental protection of the Antarctic, proposes to build a $2 billion concrete aerodrome at its Davis base. Brian Toohey reports.
The “corporatisation” of Australian farming continues apace. Almost 14% of agricultural land is now owned by foreign investors who, according to a ruling by the ATO, do not have to pay capital gains tax on water rights. Callum Foote reports.
The National Parks Association of NSW and ex-Energy Australia chair Ted Woodley are considering a legal challenge to the $10 billion Snowy 2.0, which they say will push back the transition to renewable energy and destroy thousands of hectares of national park, in light of the fact that the whole project hinges on a 30-year-old report. which is being kept secret writes Callum Foote.
While the UK’s Met Office is out there educating the public, BoM is remarkably coy about any public discussion of climate change. Questions have also been asked whether its senior leadership is too close to the gas industry. Sandi Keane investigates.
The independent hearings into one of the most controversial projects in NSW history, Santos’ coal seam gas dream for Narrabri, are wrapping up. Meanwhile, new NSW guidelines to fast-track developments look set to turn into a nightmare for community groups, writes Callum Foote.
The Government and its Covid Commission are pushing a $6 billion gas pipeline while new energy regulator, Clare Savage, calls into question the future of the gas networks. Meanwhile Australians still pay more for gas than customers overseas pay for Australian gas. Michael West reports on the momentous upheaval in energy.
The state’s 52nd coal mine, and the first since Covid, has been approved by the Minister for the Environment in NSW amid plunging coal prices and huge local opposition. The fate of Whitehaven’s Vickery mine, and its impact on farmers around Narrabri, now lies in the hands of the NSW’s independent planning commissioners
Carbon capture and storage, the prohibitively expensive climate mitigation strategy, is back on the Coalition’s agenda. Yet the facts speak for themselves. Of Shell’s total emissions of 656 million tonnes a year, its two CCS plants remove just 5 million tonnes a year from the atmosphere; the few plants in the world only exist because of huge government subsidies; while European oil companies use CCS primarily as a “feel-good” marketing message. Tim Buckley reports.
Multinational corporations have captured the national polity and continue to push last-century energy solutions on Australia, in defiance of sound policy and due process. The US fracking industry has collapsed. Yet the Covid Commission forges ahead with coal seam gas plans for Santos at Narrabri. Callum Foote reports.
The Climate Solutions Fund is a fillip for the Government’s fossil fuel backers and offers little in the way of energy policy reform to reduce either Australia’s emissions or power prices. Tim Buckley reports.
Australia’s utter failure on carbon emissions was glossed over, and corporate machinations were ignored, in this week’s Four Corners climate wars program on ABC. Instead, it was a rehash which dwelt on the Canberra Bubble perspective, giving politicians from both sides of the aisle a platform to make excuses. Adam Lucas reports.
The Government is quietly blowing away years of environmental protections under cover of Covid. Its Covid Commission (NCCC) is stacked with executives from the gas and mining lobbies in what is turning out to be a bonanza for multinationals and yet another destructive blow to Australia’s efforts to curb global warming. Sandi Keane investigates.
With the release of his book, Oil Under Troubled Water, to coincide with Witness K’s closed court plea hearing this month, ACT lawyer, Bernard Collaery, has raised the stakes on who the real wrong-doers are in this unedifying story of how the Howard Government defied international law to spy on it’s cash-strapped neighbour to profit from oil in the Timor Sea. Callum Foote reports.
Failing to tackle climate change will cost younger generations dearly and place Australia behind the rest of the world with a degraded environment and a lagging economy. Yet, successive governments have wilfully refused to enact evidence-based policy, despite the significant majority of young Australians demanding change. Sian Perry reports.
Should the Narrabri project get the green light, high levels of CO2 will be vented straight into the atmosphere, hardly the credentials for a “low carbon” transition fuel claimed by Santos in its 2020 Climate Change Report. Chemical engineer and energy industry veteran, Dr Andrew Grogan reports.
The “Battle for Narrabri” continues to rage under cover of Covid darkness. A new report on well data in the Pilliga Forest challenges claims by Santos that gas from its Narrabri Gas Project will be low on emissions. Anna Christie reports.
Having dithered on real action to tackle global warming, some in the Coalition are now taking a keen interest in solving it — by going nuclear. Noel Wauchope investigates what's behind the sudden push to overturn legislation prohibiting the exploration and mining of...
Plans by Scott Morrison and Angus Taylor to deliver power plants across the nation are in disarray; the $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund has not materialised, green bank investment has shuddered to a halt and the $300 million fund at the heart of the National Hydrogen Strategy has vanished
As Santos reports its profits this week, there is one number you are unlikely to hear from chief Kevin Gallagher: $7 billion. That’s $7 billion in gas losses over five years
In the aftermath of the worst bushfire crisis in Australia’s history, Whitehaven Coal and the NSW Mineral lobby are trying to push a new coal mine through the Independent Planning Commission. This is one of dozens of new coal projects.
Battery metal Sovereign Wealth Fund for Australia
BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund, is quitting thermal coal. The move by the $10 trillion fund has stunned financial markets. While the people protest in the streets, progressive analysts such as IEEFA’s Buckley, who had lobbied hard for the BlackRock decision, protest about climate change to global finance bosses.
Bushfires, bots and arson
Five of Australia’s top coal companies – Peabody, Yancoal Sumitomo, Citic and Whitehaven – racked up $54 billion in total income over the past five years and paid zero income tax in Australia, according to Tax Office corporate tax data. Fossil fuel companies should foot the bill for the fires, not ordinary taxpayers.
As bushfires rage and the demands for action on climate rise, the gas cartel is developing a suite of enormous fossil fuel projects destined to blow Australia’s commitments to the Paris Agreement to smithereens”. Michael West reports on the push to frack new provinces; the propaganda and the reality.
As Australia cooks under forecast record temperatures this week, the Coalition is still trying to cook the books by claiming carry-over Kyoto credits to mask its failure on climate. Sandi Keane updates her recent article, the first to explain in full just how these ill-gotten Kyoto credits were conjured up courtesy of John Howard.
Get Our Weekly Newsletter
Unsubscribe anytime.
Thank you! We'll also confirm via email.
Privacy Policy