Post of the Day
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says Australia has achieved a reduction in emissions of 20 per cent on 2005 levels, which he says is greater than New Zealand, Canada and the OECD. RMIT ABC Fact Check investigates.
On This Day
Feast of Saint Isidore – Madrid
Climate Change
Turkey drafting long-term strategy to combat climate change
The Turkish government is working on a long-term climate change strategy and action plan that will help the country meet its targets in line with the Paris Agreement
National
Greens’ shopping list for hung parliament
The Greens have firmed up their wishlist for the likely event Labor comes looking for a deal should they fail to form majority government.
Fires, floods and food security: how climate change became a local issue this election
The climate crisis is at the forefront of Guardian Australia readers’ concerns, and we put their questions to local candidates
How a chemicals tycoon shaped Australia’s ‘gas-fired recovery’
Andrew Liveris is one of Australia’s most successful businessmen with close links to former US presidents Trump and Obama. He also has a stake in Queensland’s future, as the head of the organising committee for the Brisbane Olympics. But it is his influence on the nation’s gas policy that has most upset critics.
Calls for electric cars to face a tax [$]
Experts say the end of the fuel excise discount in September was a chance to consider whether taxing fuel was still “the smartest way to pay for our roads”.
Farmers federation digs in behind Coalition on policy [$]
The National Farmers Federation has endorsed the Coalition over Labor on an overwhelming majority of its policy priorities ahead of the federal election on Saturday.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says Australia has achieved a reduction in emissions of 20 per cent on 2005 levels, which he says is greater than New Zealand, Canada and the OECD. RMIT ABC Fact Check investigates.
Independents may be our only shot at helping the environment
Gerry Georgatos
Our governments should be ashamed of decades of neglect in scaling back carbon and methane emissions. In the upcoming Federal Election, we must vote to erode monopoly politics.
Kate Crowley
Labor might be leading in the national polls, but a hung parliament after the May 21 election remains a distinct possibility.
Major parties must do better on protecting climate
SMH editorial
Australians have the chance to cast a vote that will have enormous consequences for this urgent issue.
Labor’s climate policy easily beats Coalition’s
Age editorial
The climate and environment policies of the two major parties are very different, even if neither party goes far enough.
Power price politicking trivialises the net zero energy challenge
Tony Wood
Credible plans for achieving an industrial revolution to a 2050 timetable should be the election focus, not arguing over forecast power prices in 10 years’ time.
Political leaders ignoring the biggest threat to our national security
Robert Glasser
In a rapidly warming climate, geo-strategic competition between China and Australia will be like trying to manoeuvre chess pieces on a toppling chessboard.
Victoria
Labor backs landmark Yarra River project [$]
A major riverside project touted as a major reimagining of the heart of Melbourne will receive a $20m kickstart if Labor wins the election.
Council plan to hand back Aboriginal land [$]
A Melbourne council’s plan to lead the nation in handing back “stolen” land to indigenous people – inspired by the Uluru example – has been labelled “unhinged”.
New South Wales
The tribal elder, the sacred mountain, and the photos that helped secure one of the first Aboriginal land rights victories in NSW.
The day one person was left to monitor nine river systems as floods swept the state
Communities were left stranded by floods because a lack of resources meant the SES missed crucial flood triggers, an independent review into the agency’s response to the deadly March 2021 floods has found.
Sydney public transport revenue ‘stagnating’ as costs mount
One option to increase revenue includes changes to public transport fares to “reflect the true cost of trips”.
ACT
Federal Labor promises to help improve inner-north cycle routes [$]
A federal Labor government would chip in to fund an improved inner-north bicycle route for Canberra.
Queensland
Greater Brisbane asked to save water as Gympie assesses flood damage
The request came after rain affected a treatment plant in the south-east, while in Gympie, floodwaters were expected to recede after the Mary River peaked at 15.56 metres.
‘Jet super highway’: The flashpoint that could turn Brisbane seat Green [$]
Airport noise has become a flashpoint issue for a marginal Labor seat, with some residents considering leaving the major parties to vote Greens for the first time.
South Australia
From the beach to the hills, congestion, climate change and jobs are top of mind for Boothby voters
South Australia’s only marginal seat in the federal election stretches from Adelaide’s coast, across the plains and into the Adelaide Hills. Voters have a range of concerns and not all have made up their mind about how to cast their ballot for.
Some days David Stemmer wades through blubber and rotting flesh to piece together a world-class cetacean collection that could help save the world’s largest marine mammals.
Tasmania
How a campaign to save an Australian lake led to the world’s first green party
In rugged Tasmanian wilderness lies one of the most controversial, and perhaps consequential, bodies of water in Australia.
Draining the well: can Tasmania’s water supply survive Battery of the Nation?
Tasmania’s largest river, the South Esk, temporarily stopped flowing in 2020, after low seasonal rainfall and large-scale industrial use placed undue pressure on the river’s ecosystem and experts fear the the state faces environmental failure on the scale of the Murray Darling Basin if political ambition pursues the expansion of competing industries such as “green hydrogen” and the Battery of the Nation/Marinus Link projects.
‘Park for the people’: Debate over Cradle Mountain’s future heats up [$]
As Tasmania marks the centenary of one of its oldest national parks, conflict is escalating over competing visions for its future.
Rally says no to toxic salmon in Bass Strait
Media release – Bob Brown Foundation
A large crowd of 300 turned out to Burnie’s West Beach today, calling out to ‘Save Bass Strait’ from toxic salmon expansions.
Vale Melva Truchanas, champion of Tasmania’s wilds
Media release – Lake Pedder Restoration Inc
Tasmania has lost a great champion of the wilderness and a stalwart of the campaign to restore Lake Pedder with the death of Melva Truchanas, last Wednesday, following a stroke, aged 92.
Up the Tamar without a paddle, it’s time for a river barrage
Jacqui Lambie
Every time I walk along the Tamar, I’m shocked by the state it’s in.
Northern Territory
Remote NT community not told about $5m contract to fix uranium in water supply
Laramba residents have no details of when treatment system will be ready and are forced to pay for bottled water while they wait
Project could unlock billions in hydrogen, create thousands of jobs [$]
The NT government has green-lit the first stage in a major project that could unlock billions-of-dollars in green-hydrogen and create thousands of jobs.
Sustainability
In a damning and lucidly-written report, the Human Rights Commission found that the world’s largest fossil fuel companies had “engaged in willful obfuscation and obstruction to prevent meaningful climate action.”
California is in a water crisis, yet usage is way up
California is facing a crisis. Not only are its reservoirs already at critically low levels due to unrelenting drought, residents and businesses across the state are also using more water now than they have in seven years, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to encourage just the opposite.
When sand mining alters a river, flooding farmlands in India
Illegal extraction of sand in the Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh affects the course of the Spiti river and in turn, people’s lives.
How air pollution can affect COVID-19 risks
More studies conducted during the pandemic have found links between air pollution exposure and the chances of contracting the coronavirus, developing a severe infection or dying.
The steal of the last century and a half
Peter Dykstra
The General Mining Law of 1872 turned 150 this month. It hasn’t changed a bit.
Nature Conservation
In a warming world, trees aren’t a climate change cure-all
The future of forests is on a knife’s edge, with a tug of war between two very important forces: the benefits trees get from increasing levels of carbon dioxide and the stresses they face from the climate, such as heat, drought, fires, pests, and pathogens.
Foresters urged to adapt woodlands to minimise climate change risks
Future-proofing forests and woodlands to be more resilient will ensure they continue to provide environmental, social and economic benefits and play a key role in achieving net-zero by 2045.
Bald and golden eagles suffer from lead poisoning, study finds
Nearly half the eagles sampled had what researchers called “unexpectedly high frequencies of lead,” experts wrote in the study, published earlier this year in the journal Science.
Kenya: Climate change and water sports join growing list of sea turtle threats
Sea turtles in Kenya are classified as protected by legislation that prohibits any form of direct exploitation of the animal or its products. Illegal harvesting is declining, but conservationists say their preservation is still an uphill task.
Biodiversity solutions also fight climate change
New research highlights ways to tackle our two greatest environmental challenges — at the same time.
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