Date: 13 December 2022 at 8:45:37 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Dec 13
Post of the Day
What’s the point of all the money in the world if there’s no planet?
Zoë Wundenberg
We can be quite short sighted, can’t we? As a society, as a person, we often fail to see value in things that we won’t live to see come to fruition. And yet our evolution is based on the vision of a few daring souls who lay the foundation for greatness that was still to come.
On This Day
St. Lucy’s Day – Scandinavia
Ecological Observance
Countries try to weaken EU clampdown on methane emissions -documents
Some European Union countries are trying to weaken the bloc’s planned law to cut methane emissions in the oil and gas sector, documents show, weeks after the EU pledged at the COP27 climate conference to do more to tackle the potent greenhouse gas.
National
Albanese will be ‘stunned’ if Coalition don’t back energy relief bill in parliament
Anthony Albanese is “very confident” his government’s energy relief package will pass parliament with the support of all major parties on Thursday, despite the Greens flagging they will oppose sections of the bill.
Greens to discuss position on power laws
The Greens will meet virtually to discuss the party’s position on Labor’s proposed laws to lower electricity and gas bills.
ACF report comes as countries at Cop15 prepare global target requiring businesses and financial institutions to reveal how supply chains and portfolios affect nature
No compensation to fossil fuel companies under energy cap plan, Anthony Albanese says
Prime minister admits incentives could be paid to maintain supply as he recalls parliament to pass plan
Labor drafts $1.5 billion law to challenge Dutton on power bills
Parliament is being recalled to vote on a price cap on gas but Labor is likely to combine its $1.5 billion compensation measure, daring the Coalition to reject the package.
East coast gas supply pact at risk as price controls loom
An emergency plan to cap gas prices is threatening to shatter a deal between gas exporters and the Albanese government to avert domestic shortfalls.
‘A logical step’: Finance industry backs push on mandatory climate disclosure
The financial services industry has strongly backed a government push to make disclosure of climate-related risks mandatory for companies and financial institutions, in legislative changes that could come into force for larger businesses as soon as next year.
‘A slow-motion train wreck’: Labor’s energy policy slammed [$]
Plan to interfere in energy markets and cap price for gas and coal will do nothing to fix energy bills in the long run if more is not done to increase supply, the federal Opposition has argued.
Australia-first ESG report reveals reporting gaps and opportunities
The report identifies challenges in measuring impact investing, but opportunities for companies to improve ESG reporting.
Coal-fired generators blamed for power crisis [$]
Miners have blamed Queensland and NSW coal-fired power generators for price hikes, criticising Anthony Albanese’s price caps as hitting the wrong target.
Murray-Darling Basin Authority cuts funds to Indigenous advisory group
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is urgently seeking an alternative forum to consult with First Nations communities in the northern basin, after cutting ties with an advisory group it says failed to deliver on contracts.
Bait and switch has caught gas producers flatfooted
Elizabeth Knight
The gas industry was always going to complain about price caps, but the federal government’s expanded intervention has sent many operators into crisis mode.
Desperate times justify unusual economic measures to curb power bills
Jessica Irvine
Price caps are not the favoured policy tool of economists. But the Albanese government’s plan is better than the alternative of doing nothing.
Coal, gas plan merges stupidity and lunacy [$]
Terry McCrann
The Albanese-Bowen-Chalmers plan to cap the prices of coal and gas – and hopefully, very hopefully, your electricity bill – is short-term stupidity wrapped up within long-term lunacy.
Politics of power may find it difficult to deliver goods [$]
Simon Benson
There is nothing overly sophisticated about the political rhetoric Anthony Albanese is employing to win the argument on energy prices.
‘Complete elation’ greeted Plibersek’s big plans to protect nature – but hurdles litter the path
Peter Burnett
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has announced a much-anticipated overhaul of Australia’s national environment law. The plan is rich with welcome new policies – but the path to change is littered with hurdles.
Plibersek’s plan poor on its promise of positivity
Sue Arnold
The Labor Government has released a new environmental plan that fails to truly grasp the real impact of the global climate crisis.
Multinational tax integrity and tax avoidance by the fossil fuel industry: Part 2
James Guthrie and Adam Lucas
This is the second instalment of a two-part series based on our recent submission to the Australian Government regarding tax transparency and the fossil fuel industry. The first part examined how transnational fossil fuel corporations are routinely engaged in accounting practices which enable them to avoid paying the Australian Government hundreds of billions of dollars
Critics fear the government’s environmental overhaul heralds a new frontier of climate denialism [$]
Maeve McGregor
Environmental groups are concerned Australia’s overhaul of environmental reforms could unearth a new and unwelcome age of climate denialism.
Rachel Withers
What kind of compensation will the federal government be paying to coal companies?
The satellite data mapping Australia’s new climate extremes
Antoinette Tordesillas and Guoqi Qian
New research is combining data from satellites to help us better anticipate and adapt to climate change and extreme weather in Australia
Victoria
What does Dan Andrews’ plan to ‘bring back the SEC’ actually mean? [$]
Stephen Mayne
Promising to revive the SEC may have been a vote winner, but the reality is a little more complicated — and costly.
Queensland
‘Tired old commercial sites’: More than 70 hectares set for urban renewal
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner believes 14 newly selected Suburban Renewal Precincts will help transform Brisbane.
East coast gas supply pact at risk as price controls loom
Queensland’s three LNG exporters – Shell’s QCLNG joint venture, Origin Energy-backed APLNG and Santos’ GLNG – are set to hold talks this week.
South Australia
After 25-year wait, victory for the Wirangu people’s Native Title claim in the Federal Court
More than 25 years after registering a claim, South Australia’s Wirangu people have been officially recognised as the Native Title holders of part of the Eyre Peninsula.
Tasmania
‘Perfect time’: Senator wants Tassie to consider nuclear option [$]
A Tasmanian senator has urged her state Liberal colleagues to be open-minded about nuclear energy as the nation makes the transition to renewables.
Protect eastern hooded plover eggs this summer
Media release – NRM North
Did you know that half of the remaining eastern hooded plover population call Tasmania home? What’s more, approximately 20 per cent of these can be found on our north-eastern beaches.
Northern Territory
This community is worried about what comes out of its taps, but things are slowly changing
One of Australia’s most remote communities relies on 700 boxes of water a week because its water isn’t safe to drink.
Would you pay to swim in the NT’s most famous natural pools? From next year tourists will have to
Tourists already fork out money for flights, accommodation, camping and walks. From next year they’ll also have to pay to visit some of the NT’s most famous national parks and swimming spots.
Western Australia
How Indigenous land managers are helping reduce carbon emissions while creating employment opportunities
Indigenous rangers and researchers have done the science in Australia’s remote outback so Australians can fly carbon neutral when we buy an airline ticket.
‘The situation is not pretty’: Fears WA power users are in for white-knuckle ride this summer
On a warmish evening across Perth and southern WA recently, something happened to make Andy Wearmouth feel very uncomfortable, while just about everybody else in the state remained blissfully ignorant.
‘The Shield and the Spear’ celebrates four decades of the Kimberley Land Council
More than four decades of the Kimberley Land Council’s history, struggle and knowledge has been compiled into a new illustrated book: The Shield and the Spear.
Sustainability
Breakthrough in nuclear fusion could mean ‘near-limitless energy’
Researchers managed to release more energy than they put in: a positive gain known as ignition
Nature Conservation
Revealed: Brazil goldminers carve illegal ‘Road to Chaos’ out of Amazon reserve
Aerial photos from reconnaissance mission reveal effort to smuggle excavators into Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory
The Guardian view on rivers: delaying pollution controls will only lead to harm
Guardian editorial
Allowing farmers to continue dumping slurry is short-sighted. If ministers want nature to recover, they must regulate
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