Government cannot lower electricity bills by subsidising old and high cost power plants
Owen Evans
Refocusing attention on transmission and distribution of electricity will bring better results than payments to ageing and unreliable fossil fuel generators.
On This Day
Dormition of the Mother of God – Eastern Christianity
Ecological Observance
Climate Change
Disastrous environmental events are converging like never before.
National
Josh Frydenberg admits climate change a major preoccupation in global markets
Treasurer says there are ‘lots of internal conversations’ on whether Australia could make a firm net zero commitment at Cop26
Water management to restore justice to First Nations communities
A new water management concept called Cultural Flows in the Murray-Darling Basin aims to restore life to country and justice to First Nations communities.
Haines’ Local Power Agency plan could be huge boost for community energy projects
The creation of a new dedicated government agency could be crucial for establishing a viable market for community-owned renewable energy projects, a parliamentary inquiry has heard, with current funding agencies failing to fill a gap in funding support for smaller projects.
Taylor’s Coalkeeper subsidy, and lessons from US – Energy Insiders podcast
Angus Taylor is hell-bent on imposing a coal subsidy on Australia. We talk to S&P renewables analyst Adam Wilson about lessons from the US.
Tim Nelson and Joel Gilmore
A long-anticipated plan to reform Australia’s electricity system was released on Thursday. One of the most controversial proposals by the Energy Security Board (ESB) concerns subsidies which critics say will encourage dirty coal plants to stay open longer.
Nationals v CSIRO: why a party of government attacks its own scientific agency [$]
Kishor Napier-Raman
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan is leading the charge in his party’s anti-science war, with the CSIRO a main target.
Trust the government, they say — CoalKeeper will be different [$]
Bernard Keane
Advocates for the CoalKeeper tax to prop up fossil fuel generators insist we can trust the government not to use it to hand a windfall to its fossil fuel donors. It’s a triumph of delusion over history.
‘Logging must go’ – national push to protect public native forests
Jennifer Sanger
Sixty-one forest conservation organisations from across Australia have released a statement calling for an immediate end to native forest logging on public lands.
“Keep coal to encourage renewables:” Is this the silliest energy headline ever written?
Giles Parkinson
If energy and climate policy could be decided by slogans and newspaper headlines, then federal energy minister Angus Taylor would have an easy job.
Government cannot lower electricity bills by subsidising old and high cost power plants
Owen Evans
Refocusing attention on transmission and distribution of electricity will bring better results than payments to ageing and unreliable fossil fuel generators.
Victoria
Victorian Traditional Owners launch Australia’s first cultural landscape strategy
The strategy sets out a plan and framework to ensure Traditional Owners are incorporated in the planning, policy and management of Country.
New South Wales
Stop the Kurri Kurri gas plant
A week of action to protest the Kurri Kurri gas plant was organised by the Gas Free Hunter Alliance (GFHA), School Students for Climate Action (SS4CA) and Workers for Climate action.
Regular cycling booms in Sydney amid pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more Sydneysiders onto bicycles than ever before, with data revealing regular cycling has more than doubled in the past two years across the inner city.
Development of ‘zombie’ gasfield areas would create waste, water issues: opponents
Large swaths of some of the state’s best farmland could be opened up for coal seam gas development, resulting in the extraction of many gigalitres of groundwater.
NSW fast-tracks Andrew Forrest backed gas-hydrogen Port Kembla power station
NSW government fast-tracks planning process for Port Kembla power station, set to be one of the first to co-fire fossil gas and renewable hydrogen.
Hunt on for main culprit as scientists find coal contamination in Lake Macquarie
Study confirms coal plants’ contribution to mercury deposits in Lake Macquarie and seeks to narrow down which is the biggest offender: ash dams or atmospheric emissions.
NSW stuns with 34GW of wind, solar proposals for New England renewable zone
NSW gets 34GW of project proposals for its New England renewable energy zone, one of five designed to build the capacity to replace coal.
Laura Schuijers
This week was another big one in the land of climate litigation.
Queensland
War between Adani and activist over secret information returns to court
A legal battle between a vocal activist and mining giant Adani over the controversial Carmichael project has returned to a Brisbane court.
‘This is not normal’: Toad tadpoles are eating each other, research confirms
Researchers say cane toad tadpoles’ cannibalistic behaviour is “not normal” and instead a reaction to the harsh Australian environment.
South Australia
Narungga country sees brush-tailed bettongs re-introduced after 100-year absence
The brush-tailed bettong has been locally extinct on Narungga country for more than a decade, with Traditional Owners taking part in reintroducing them back to country this week.
Fight against SA feral deer invasion hits new heights [$]
The feral deer invasion is spreading across South Australia and it’s forcing farmers to roll out a new arsenal to defend their incomes against the pest.
Tasmania
Gutwein announces $15M for renewables, future industries body on budget day
The key takeaway for environment in this year’s Tasmanian budget was the allocation of $15 million to establish Renewables, Climate and Future Industries Tasmania, with the CEO answerable directly to the climate change and energy and emissions reductions ministers.
A move by the Liberals which sees its new climate change office sit within Treasury has been slammed by the Greens who say the natural world should not be commercialised.
Tassie town to cull Pooping pigeons [$]
A Tasmanian council is going to trial capturing and culling its pooping CBD pigeon population to make the city a cleaner place.
Northern Territory
Rio Tinto claims no evidence of dumping Marandoo artefacts at Darwin tip
Appearing at the Juukan Gorge inquiry on Friday, disgraced mining giant Rio Tinto told the Senate Committee it has “no internal records” of the disposal of Marandoo heritage material in 1997, despite a letter from the same year indicating otherwise.
Western Australia
Stephen Dawson disappoints WA Traditional Owners again
WA Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Stephen Dawson has again disappointed Traditional Owners who were keen to discuss the State Government’s proposed Aboriginal heritage legislation by missing the seventh Annual On-Country Bush Meeting at the Yule River Meeting Place this week.
Rare night parrot photograph ‘gives us hope there are more out there’
Indigenous rangers in a remote region of Western Australia have taken photographs of a night parrot, fanning hopes that more of the elusive and very rare birds may be in the wild.
Sustainability
Scientists in China are preparing to turn on an experimental reactor believed by some to be the Holy Grail of nuclear energy — safer, cheaper and with less potential for weaponisation.
Solar and batteries can be a lifeline for vulnerable islands hooked on diesel
Here’s how island microgrids are building for a future of superstorms driven by climate change.
Rio Tinto mine plan stirs Serbian protests
Four years from now, fields in the Jadar river valley in western Serbia where Djorjde Kapetanovic grows corn and soy to feed his cattle could be turned into a waste dump for Europe’s biggest lithium mine.
Farmers regreen Kenya’s drylands with agroforestry and an app
By planting annual crops among useful trees like mango, orange and neem, vegetables and animal forage crops receive enough cooling shade and moisture for them to take hold out of the scorching sun.
U.S. to boost offshore wind energy as industry sees growth
The U.S. plans to pursue more use of wind energy and offshore wind farms.
David Suzuki on the battle at Fairy Creek
Ultimately, the protests are about stopping humanity’s reckless destruction of the systems that allow us — and nature — to survive.
Toxic algal blooms are growing out of control
If it seems like you’ve been hearing about lakes and beaches closing down more often, you’re right. Various types of toxic algae are multiplying like crazy in bodies of water across the country, and stopping them won’t be easy.
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