Category Archives: Chris Bowen

Australia news live: immediate evacuation orders as central west NSW faces dramatic floods; record early voting in Victoria

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The SES has said the Lachlan River is rising faster than originally forecast. Follow all today’s news

Some issues ‘we have raised will be solved overnight’: Chalmers

Albanese has said there are no preconditions ahead of the meeting with Xi but Karvelas is pressing Chalmers on what could be on the table. He’s staying pretty tight-lipped but here are some of his answers.

We’ve made it really clear for some time … that these trade sanctions are not in Australia’s interests, and we want to see them lifted.

I don’t think anybody pretends some of the issues China has raised, certainly some we have raised will be solved overnight, but again we give ourselves a much better chance where there is engagement and dialogue.

Australia’s made its views clear over a long period of time when it comes to the detention of these two people.

What’s Australia’s ambition here?

We seek a more stable relationship with China.

We will speak up for our national interest where necessary, but we believe engagement is important to give ourselves the chance to work through some of these issues if we’re talking to each other.

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Australia politics live: $591m cost of cancelling French submarines revealed in Senate estimates; Bob Brown charged with trespass

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Tony Burke is also being quite conciliatory about David Pocock’s concerns about the bill.

Asked by Patricia Karvelas if he is prepared to make more amendments to the IR bill, Tony Burke says that is standard after a senate inquiry process.

I suspect there’ll be more to come.

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Treasurer says gas review likely to result in mandatory code of conduct as energy costs soar

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Government has also not ruled out using threat of export limits to guarantee more domestic supply, Jim Chalmers says

The Albanese government will toughen gas market regulation and intends to make the industry code of conduct mandatory, with the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, also not ruling out export limits or cash handouts as soaring bills put pressure on household budgets.

On Sunday, Chalmers signalled a review, announced in the budget and being conducted by the competition regulator, would likely include mandatory price regulation and a requirement for “meaningful offers” to domestic consumers.

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Russian embassy spokesperson suggests Australian government unwilling to support espionage-proof building

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Teal independents to attend national EV summit today

Many of the newly elected independents who campaigned on a platform of stronger climate action are set today’s electric vehicle summit in Canberra.

Our support will be delivered through UN agencies to provide food, health and nutrition services, access to safe water and essential support for those at risk, including women and children.

Australia’s continued assistance to Sri Lanka supports our mutual interest in a secure and resilient Indian Ocean and reinforces our 75 year-strong relationship built on cooperation and community connection.

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Bank Australia to ditch fossil fuel car loans in push for EV future

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Announcement at national electric vehicle summit comes as climate change minister seeks input on national EV strategy

An Australian bank will stop offering loans for new fossil fuel cars from 2025 in a step it says will encourage more people to buy electric vehicles.

The customer-owned Bank Australia will announce the self-imposed ban at a national EV summit in Canberra on Friday, arguing it is a responsible step to ensure its lending practices did not “lock our customers into higher carbon emissions and increasingly expensive running costs”.

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Selling Covid antivirals over the counter a ‘recipe for disaster’ – as it happened

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The Pharmacy Guild has pushed for the drugs to be made available without a prescription at community pharmacies due to national GP shortages. This blog is now closed

Peter Dutton pressed on voice to parliament

Opposition leader Peter Dutton appeared on ABC’s 7.30 last night and it is worth revisiting for the exchange with host Sarah Ferguson about whether he will commit his party to supporting the voice to parliament.

SARAH FERGUSON: Let me move back into the domestic realm. At the start of parliament, you participated in the smoking ceremony, you allowed your face to be painted and then in your speech you quoted Noel Pearson and seemed to endorse Pearson’s call for constitutional recognition. What would prevent you now from taking the next step and backing the referendum on the voice?

PETER DUTTON: Well, I quoted Noel Pearson for whom I have a great deal of respect, and you can go back and look at the quote and there are many elements to that because there were several paragraphs that I quoted him on.

If we could get that to 60 per cent, then already you would go a long way to addressing part of the supply shortage of teachers.

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Energy ministers’ reforms to Australia’s electricity market could be path to a carbon price, experts say

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Federal, state and territory ministers are set to make emissions reduction a priority for the national electricity market

Australia’s main electricity market will prioritise cutting emissions as part of its objectives for the first time since its creation a quarter of a century ago, a shift that could set up conditions for a carbon price, experts said.

Federal, state and territory energy ministers are scheduled to meet in Canberra on Thursday for a dinner before holding formal talks on Friday. It will be the first gathering since the national electricity market (NEM) was suspended in June after the market operator had to resort to whiteboards and spreadsheets to order generators online.

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Opposition calls for Australia to develop missiles, warning ‘lucky country’ era is over

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Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie warns of ‘bleak’ outlook in region as Chinese embassy condemns Australia’s ‘finger-pointing’

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The shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, has called for Australia to develop and operate its own missiles, warning the era of the “lucky country” is over.

On Sunday, Hastie argued Australia needs greater deterrents given the “very bleak” strategic outlook, with a “rising China” displaying “revisionist and expansionist ambitions”.

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Labor’s climate bill set to pass with support from Greens and Bridget Archer

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Adam Bandt says Greens will back legislation but signals further fight on new fossil fuel projects, while the Liberal MP says she’ll cross the floor

The House of Representatives is moving towards passage of Labor’s bill enshrining emissions reductions targets for 2030 and 2050 after the Greens signalled they would support the legislation and Liberal MP Bridget Archer confirmed she would cross the floor.

After weeks of negotiations, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, confirmed on Wednesday his party would back the Albanese government’s legislation in both chambers, and king-making Senate independent, David Pocock, confirmed his priority was “getting a target locked in and legislated”.

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Labor to reshape carbon credit committee as Coalition-appointed members resign

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Climate change minister Chris Bowen has accepted the resignation of three members of the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee

Labor will make substantial changes to a committee responsible for ensuring the integrity of the national carbon credit system after the departure of three members appointed by the Coalition, including the chair.

A spokesperson for the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, confirmed he had accepted the resignation of three members of the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee.

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Chris Bowen shares draft climate bill as independents and Greens turn up heat for more ambitious action

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Greens call for moratorium on new oil and gas projects as some independents urge Labor not to rush major policy for political reasons

The minister for climate change, Chris Bowen, is under intensifying pressure to beef up the government’s proposed legislation enshrining emissions reduction targets, with the Greens and some independents declaring the current commitments inadequate.

Bowen met on Thursday with climate focused independent MPs and representatives from the Greens to share a draft of the bill he will introduce during the first sitting week of the new parliament. He has invited MPs and senators to suggest amendments or ideas over the coming days.

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Breaking from China’s clean energy dominance ‘imperative’, US and Australia say after new climate tech deal

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New agreement to fast-track climate solutions signed as countries underscore need for diversified supply chains

The US and Australia have stressed the importance of breaking the near-complete reliance on China for zero emissions technology supplies while signing a new agreement that promises to accelerate the development of climate solutions.

In a joint press conference in Sydney, the US energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, and the Australian climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, announced a “net zero technology acceleration partnership”, including an initial focus on long-duration energy storage and digitising power grids.

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Nation records 33 Covid deaths as Victoria reports fifth monkeypox case – as it happened

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Mark Butler urges Australians to get boosters as new subvariant circulates; nation records 33 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Australia ‘deeply concerned by continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights’

Penny Wong, minister for foreign affairs, released a statement last night saying Australia remains “deeply concerned” by the continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights.

Australia remains deeply concerned by the continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and autonomy, two years since the imposition of the National Security Law.

The National Security Law has been applied broadly to arrest or pressure pro-democracy figures, opposition groups, the media, trade unions and civil society. The electoral reforms imposed by Beijing in 2021 have further eroded Hong Kong’s democratic governance.

This will be the fourth time the government has offered to make the changes, announced the changes, and then backtracked as a result of internal politics.

I’m just not sure where we go from here but our members are resolute. We are going to continue fighting to get these trains made safe, and we’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

It’s going to be a very messy day. It’ll be a weekend timetable with other trains taken out of it.

The families of the railway workers right now could be having $3,000 deposited in their account, instead of having that money spent on modifying perfectly good trains.

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Australia news live updates: ‘optimistic in the extreme’ to expect operational nuclear submarine by the 2030s, says Marles

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Defence minister blames Coalition for submarine delay; NSW parliamentary inquiry into Barilaro appointment begins; David Hurley apologises for promoting builder; Chris Bowen addresses National Press Club; NSW records 11 Covid deaths, Tasmania one. Follow live

Turnbull says Albanese ‘is not Scott Morrison and that’s a big advantage’

Australia’s new prime minister will have an easier time mending relations with the French “because he is not Scott Morrison and that’s a big advantage”, the former leader Malcolm Turnbull has told journalists in Paris.

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Paying coal and gas plants to supply back-up energy a ‘retrograde step’, Clean Energy Council says

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‘It’s the wrong policy debate at the wrong time,’ industry says of capacity mechanism

Australia’s peak renewable industry groups say paying coal and gas plants to remain in the electricity market as back-up capacity would be “a retrograde step”, and a lengthy debate about changes could stall much-needed new investment.

Kane Thornton, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, said his organisation had “real concerns” about the proposal by the Energy Security Board for a so-called capacity mechanism to be introduced after 2025. Such a scheme would charge consumers for idle generation or supply to reduce risks of potential power shortages, as experienced across eastern Australia this month.

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Senior ministers to retire before Victoria’s election – as it happened

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Housing market posts first monthly decline since September 2020; at least 52 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

Australian scientists celebrate world first

AAP is reporting that in a world first, Australian scientists have developed a device with “exquisite precision” that they say is a huge step towards a commercial quantum computer.

This is a remarkable piece of engineering. This experiment paves the way for larger and more complex quantum systems to be emulated in future.

It won’t be long before we can start to realise new materials that have never existed before.

All of this is just a fantasy because they don’t understand what actually happens at the bargaining table.

I think the Reserve Bank governor has weirdly changed his tune, he was the one who said so long as wages keep up with inflation and productivity, they are not inflationary.

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National electricity market suspended as NSW residents told to conserve power to reduce blackout risk

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Australian Energy Market Operator suspends spot market after it became ‘impossible to operate’ amid projected energy shortfalls

Australia’s main wholesale electricity market has been suspended by regulators in the latest sign that the crisis threatening the stability of energy supplies is deepening.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) took the drastic step of suspending the entire national electricity market for the first time in its history on Wednesday.

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Chris Bowen warns energy generators against market manipulation amid crisis

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Minister say he’s not aware of any specific allegations but ‘would not tolerate’ inappropriate behaviour

The energy minister, Chris Bowen, has declared any power generator using the cover of the current energy crisis to engage in market manipulation will face action from regulators wielding the “full force of their powers”.

In a wide-ranging interview with Guardian Australia’s political podcast, the new federal minister said he was not aware of any specific allegations, but he acknowledged there was often speculation about inappropriate behaviour in Australia’s energy market.

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As the temperature cools, the heat is on Chris Bowen

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Gas shortages, reported delays to major projects and coal-fired power woes are among the gifts handed to the new energy minister

It’s a shame Chris Bowen can’t harness some of the heat from his baptism of fire as new energy minister because it could come in handy this winter.

Even before he’d been sworn in, Victoria nearly ran out of gas. This week, there were more coal-fired power woes – with AGL Energy down to six of its 11 units operating – and a new winter demand record in Queensland for electricity.

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Australia live news update: Wong condemns ‘reckless’ North Korea missile launches; Nine overturns order to hand over drafts

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NSW Appeals Court throws out order requiring Nine Entertainment to hand over draft material; foreign affairs minister labels North Korean ballistic launches ‘reckless and destabilising behaviour’; stripping dual nationals of citizenship unlawful, high court rules; National Disability Insurance Agency chief resigns; Victoria records 25 Covid deaths, Queensland 15, NSW records 10 deaths, WA records eight, ACT records one. Follow all the day’s news

China’s warning to Australia

China has warned Australia to stop “provocations” or face “serious consequences” after the federal government said a Chinese jet plane was intercepted, the AFP and Guardian staff report.

The Australian military plane seriously threatened China’s sovereignty and security and the measures taken by the Chinese military were professional, safe, reasonable and legal.

We can trace Australia’s celebrated connection to the space industry back to the 1950s and as a nation we have to build on that legacy.

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