The Tesla battery farm in South Australia Australia’s states, and in particular South Australia, are leading a battery and energy storage boom which will transform the way energy is used and distributed in Australia. The Climate Council has released a new report on the technology: ‘Fully Charged: Renewals and Storage Powering Australia’. The report says […]
19 February, 2018
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its first detailed analysis of Australian energy market in five years. It is not complimentary. Australia’s energy policy, it says, is uncoordinated and falling behind the rest of the world on many measures. The IEA is not given to overstatement. It is an OECD agency established in 1974 […]
15 February, 2018
The current standoff over water allocations in the Murray Darlin Basin is as good an example as you could ever find of how Australia’s federal system is broken. The Murray Darling Basin Plan was supposed to be the epitome of how Australia’s states and territories could work with each other and the Federal Government for […]
15 February, 2018
NSW Local Government Minister Gabrielle Upton has moved to suspend Blue Mountains City Council, after doubts have being raised about the independence of its investigation into asbestos management. Ms Upton has issued a Notice of Intention to Suspend the council for three months and appoint an administrator. It has issued a previous Notice in December, […]
15 February, 2018
Local Government Super (LGS), the industry superannuation fund for NSW local government employees, has won two environmental awards for its property portfolio. It has been awarded a 5-Star Green Star rating for its entire direct property portfolio – the first portfolio in Australia to achieve the rating. It has also been named Australia’s ‘Best Green […]
11 February, 2018
Extreme weather events are becoming more common. Heatwaves, floods bushfires and cyclones are more prevalent than ever, with Australia on the sharp end. Government News is a partner with the first Xtreme Weather Australia Conference, being held at Brisbane’s Sofitel Hotel on 20 March 2018. Join Australia’s leading experts and communicators for the full day […]
6 February, 2018
The National Electricity Market (NEM) is under fire from many quarters. A new parliamentary report has criticised many aspects of its operation, and now Tasmania’s Liberal Government has said that if returned to office after the 3 March election it will withdraw the state entirely from the NEM by 20121. Tasmania, which has abundant hydroelectric […]
5 February, 2018
The Cities Power Partnership (CPP), a consortium of Australian local government authorities to encourage the use of renewable energy, has increased its number of members to 70, exactly double the number that signed up when the group was formed in July 2017. Numbers are likely to grow even more after the next round of applications […]
28 January, 2018
It didn’t take long. On Monday the Federal Government made a big deal out of investing $60 million over 18 months to “set in motion” a major research and development program for the restoration of the Great Barrier Reef. Within 24 hours the plan was attacked by environmentalists, marine scientists and the Greens as too […]
22 January, 2018
Opponents of releasing more water into the Murray Darling river system for environmental purposes have suffered a defeat. A new independent report says the plan to add 450 gigalitres (GL) annually to the 2750 GL currently released will be good for the environment and have overall socioeconomic benefits. The 300 page report was commissioned by […]
22 January, 2018
Australia’s premier alliance of conservation organisations has called the Federal Government’s new biodiversity strategy a weak and disappointing document which will do nothing to address concerns about reduction in biodiversity. The Government released a draft ‘Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2018-2030’ document just before Christmas. The 17 page report is intended to replace the much more […]
22 January, 2018
Record-breaking temperatures across Australia have seen no end to the continued bickering over climate and energy policy in Australia. The release of Keating-era cabinet papers from 1994 show that the Governmnet was struggling with how to address the issue even then. In 1992, Environment Minister Ros Kelly had signed Australia up to the new UN […]
11 January, 2018
The Federal Government’s current energy policy says it is ‘technology agnostic’, and that carbon fuels will have a continued role as energy sources well into the future. It talks often of ‘clean coal’ and of carbon capture, technologies that are intended to reduce the emissions of exist fossil fuel energy sources. Despite these technologies being […]
13 December, 2017
Government agency Infrastructure Australia has warned that water bills for Australian households could double in real terms by 2040 unless a comprehensive water management strategy is implemented. The report, ‘Reforming Urban Water’, was released by Adrian Dwyer, Executive Director of Policy and Research at Infrastructure Australia. The report focuses on the provision of water for […]
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