Gas shortfalls for eastern states worse than predicted just months ago, ACCC warns

Projections of shortfalls – and calls for more production – come even as the bulk of gas produced in Australia is exported

East coast gas shortfalls could emerge as soon as 2027, a year earlier than was forecast six months ago, unless new sources of supply are made available, the competition watchdog has warned in a report.

Released on Friday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report does not cover the supply squeeze that prompted the market operator last month to issue a “threat notice” of potential shortfalls of the fuel in southern states, amid production issues and a prolonged cold snap.

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Australia politics live: Labor caucus endorses Payman suspension; Watt says no plan to ban live cattle exports

PM calls for ‘a long-term solution in a peace process’ between Israel and Palestine. Follow today’s news headlines live

Shorten says he thinks Labor party is trying to give Senator Payman ‘space and time’

Bill Shorten continues:

I see why people feel so strongly. They can feel so strongly about the hostage is not being returned, or the deaths in Gaza. People could feel also very strongly about the near million deaths in Sudan.

I can get these very incredibly strong issues. And if you come from particular communities, they’re even more intense, although that doesn’t need to be the prerequisite.

Before I deny something, what’s your source?

No, I don’t believe that.

… Because I wasn’t there and I don’t believe it. I actually think the prime minister, Senator Wong and the leadership are handling a complicated issue pretty well.

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Journalists refused entry to Azerbaijan energy conference ahead of Cop29

Incident reignites concerns over crackdown on media before crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year

Western journalists were refused entry to an energy industry conference in Azerbaijan earlier this month, reigniting concerns over the state’s crackdown on the media ahead of crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year.

At least three journalists from the UK and France have told the Guardian that they felt “unsafe” after they were denied entry to the Baku Energy Week forum, despite registering with the event organisers weeks in advance.

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Nuclear more costly and could ‘sound the death knell’ for Australia’s decarbonisation efforts, report says

Analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance says even if nuclear is successfully implemented it would be ‘at least four times’ more expensive than average cost of renewables

A nuclear-powered Australian economy would result in higher-cost electricity and would “sound the death knell” for decarbonisation effort if it distracts from renewables investment, a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) argues.

The report comes as ANZ forecast September quarter power prices will dive as much as 30% once government rebates kick in. A separate review by the market watchdog has found household energy bills were 14% lower because of last year’s rebates.

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Australia politics live: Plibersek says protecting koala habitat one of the conditions for approving Rinehart-backed gas project

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The Queensland government plans to establish a new greater glider forest park as part of a $200m plan to reform the state’s timber industry.

The premier, Steven Miles, will today announce he will ban logging in between 50,000 and 60,000 hectares of high value ecosystem within the Eastern Hardwoods region in Wide Bay, north of Brisbane.

In addition, a new park to protect the greater glider will be established in the south-east Queensland bioregion.

The state government will also appoint an advisory group to develop a 30-year plan for the sector. It will include representatives from the timber industry, forestry experts, the conservation sector, First Nations peoples, the Australian Workers’ Union, construction sector and outdoor recreational groups.

Queensland’s timber industry is the backbone of the housing and building sectors.

That’s why I’m doing what matters to support timber workers and the industry to continue building our state, while also increasing our protected area estate.

The terms of reference released today map out our priorities as a government – that is, timber supply security, environmental protections, jobs and diverse employment opportunities.

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Inflation rises to 4%, stoking concern interest rates could increase again

The consumer price index increased to its highest level in 2024, indicating the Reserve Bank is unlikely to cut interest rates soon

Australia’s monthly inflation rate increased to its highest level in 2024 in the latest indication that the Reserve Bank won’t be cutting interest rates soon and might yet hike again.

Consumer prices rose 4% last month from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. That compared with the 3.6% pace recorded for April, and the 3.8% rate expected for May by economists.

The jump in May’s inflation was propelled in part by automotive fuel prices, which were up 9.3% from a year earlier even as they retreated 5.1% during the month itself.

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How a Dutton misstep on climate saw him go quiet for three days then come out swinging

Exclusive: Text messages asking ‘did we miss a party room meeting?’ pinged between Coalition MPs, caught out by new ‘position’ on 2030 emissions target

Peter Dutton’s refusal to commit the Coalition to a 2030 emissions reduction target was policy on the run to fix a mistake, when ambiguous comments in a newspaper interview were reported as a shift.

Guardian Australia understands Dutton never intended to declare a new position on the government’s 2030 emissions reduction target, but misspoke during an interview with the Australian newspaper just over two weeks ago. He decided to go quiet for three days and then come out swinging, rather than reveal it was inadvertent.

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Australia politics live: Julian Assange leaves Belmarsh prison after plea deal and will return to Australia, WikiLeaks says

WikiLeaks X account has tweeted that ‘Julian Assange is free’. Follow today’s news headlines live

‘It’s just a lazy delay’

Bill Shorten says a further delay of the Senate vote on the NDIS bill won’t actually lead to any changes:

There’s no good reason on God’s green earth to have another eight weeks of review, which isn’t actually eight weeks.

There won’t be a whole lot of new submissions come in, there won’t be some brand new arguments not considered.

I’m horrified after 12 months of reviewing the NDIS and then another six months of discussing the review including [in] the last three a Senate committee having public hearings calling for submissions.

The opposition has used words never ever said before by them.

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‘Very serious’: gas supplies in southern states under pressure, analysts warn

‘Threat notice’ flags elevated supply risks, as expert warns problems will get worse without urgent addition of more backup resources

Gas supplies in southern states are likely to remain strained the rest of this winter, and the problems will worsen without the urgent addition of more backup resources, analysts including the market operator say.

Those states, particularly Victoria, have drawn down their gas storage as cold weather increased demand. Gas-fired power generation has also been double that expected on some days amid unusually calm periods, and gas production at Victoria’s Longford plant has dropped because of unscheduled maintenance.

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Matt Kean criticised by Coalition MPs after Labor appoints him new chair of Climate Change Authority

Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan lead criticism of former NSW treasurer while Labor declares him ‘best for the job’

The former New South Wales Liberal treasurer Matt Kean has faced criticism for taking a new job as the new chair of the Climate Change Authority after he was appointed by the Albanese government on Monday.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, revealed the former NSW Liberal treasurer had been chosen for the “important” role on Monday in a surprise cross-party appointment.

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Labor and Greens strike anti-vaping deal – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

David Pocock also spoke to the ABC about his private member’s bill that would see housing treated as a human right. He said it was needed because:

There’s no overarching national plan and this would legislate that these are the objectives, we want to see housing affordable, we want to reduce homelessness and then it would be up to the government to actually work out – how are we going to do that?

What are the policies that we think will address this?

One of my heroes Desmond Tutu used to say ‘don’t raise your voice, improve your argument’.

It’s pretty tragic the major parties tear the opposition down rather than improving their argument and making their plans stand on their own two feet.

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Nuclear confusion: the Coalition’s power plan is becoming less and less clear

The Peter Dutton-led opposition is seeking a mandate to pursue nuclear energy, but details are in short supply

The Coalition’s nuclear plan is becoming less – not more – clear.

The shadow climate change and energy minister, Ted O’Brien, now says there will be more than one nuclear reactor at each of the Coalition’s seven nominated sites, but he can’t say exactly how many.

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Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan could cost as much as $600bn and supply just 3.7% of Australia’s energy by 2050, experts say

Coalition proposal would cost a minimum of $116bn – the same as Labor’s plan for almost 100% renewables by 2050, the Smart Energy Council says

The Coalition’s pledge to build seven nuclear reactors as part of its controversial energy plan could cost taxpayers as much as $600bn while supplying just 3.7% of Australia’s energy mix by 2050, according to the Smart Energy Council.

The analysis found the plan would cost a minimum of $116bn – the same cost as delivering the Albanese government’s plan for 82% renewables by 2030, and an almost 100% renewable energy mix by 2050.

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US official warns against dropping 2030 climate targets after Dutton refuses to commit to 43% emissions cut

Exclusive: State department official urges politicians to do ‘the right thing’, citing ‘collective responsibility’

A senior US official has urged Australia and other countries not to back away from their 2030 climate commitments, insisting that “we all have a collective responsibility for the planet we live in”.

The message from Australia’s top security ally contrasts with rhetoric from the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, who claimed on Saturday the Labor government was “appeasing the international climate lobby” and “global climate activists”.

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Peter Dutton vows to override state nuclear bans as he steps up attack on PM

Opposition leader tells Liberal party officials that state premiers ‘won’t stop us’ and labels Anthony Albanese a ‘child in a man’s body’

Peter Dutton has vowed a Coalition government would override the states’ legislated ban on nuclear power, telling party officials on Saturday that state premiers “won’t stop us”.

The opposition leader made the comments in an address to the federal Liberal party council in Sydney, where he escalated his attacks on Anthony Albanese. He called the prime minister a “fraud” and a “child in a man’s body” that is “still captured in his university years”.

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Nuclear engineer dismisses Peter Dutton’s claim that small modular reactors could be commercially viable soon

Hugh Durrant-Whyte says 2045 is a realistic timeframe, adding it was likely to be ‘more expensive than anything else you could possibly think of’

Australia would need “many decades” to develop the regulations and skills to operate a nuclear power plant, and the experience gained at the existing Lucas Heights facility won’t help much, according to New South Wales’ chief scientist and engineer.

Hugh Durrant-Whyte said he stood by comments made to a 2019 NSW upper house inquiry into uranium mining and nuclear facilities that running a plant and its fuel supply chain would require skills “built up over many decades”.

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Power bills could rise by $1,000 a year under Coalition plan to boost gas until nuclear is ready, analysts say

Experts predict major electricity price hikes if opposition proposal to slow rollout of large-scale renewable projects goes ahead

Australians’ annual household power bills could increase by hundreds of dollars, and up to $1,000, under a Coalition plan to slow the rollout of large-scale renewable energy and use more gas-fired electricity before nuclear plants are ready, analysts say.

As Peter Dutton faced cross-party resistance to his announcement that he would go to the next election promising to eventually build seven nuclear plants, energy market analysts warned the Coalition’s proposal would probably lead to a significant rise in prices over the next decade, before a nuclear industry came online.

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Australia news live: Indigenous leader Rev Dr D Gondarra dies; mass cull ordered to stop NSW bird flu outbreak

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Albanese calls Coalition nuclear policy a ‘fantasy’

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has slammed the Coalition’s nuclear power policy, calling it a “fantasy” and saying it was “Peter Dutton and the Seven nuclear reactors.”

What you have here is something that I’ve never seen before. I mean, this is just a fantasy, instead of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs this is Peter Dutton and the seven nuclear reactors.

This is just absurd, to have a big buildup for an announcement and then say we won’t give you the details. I’ll make this prediction. All the details won’t be out there before the election. It will be just “trust me”, just the same as Peter Dutton said that [for the] 2030 target when it comes to emissions reduction, “I will let you know all of that after the election.”

Well, our energy policy will and is absolutely focused on driving down prices as we did in government at … this is the important point. And that is because of a range of technologies, not one, nuclear needs to be part of that mix. You need to have every horse in this race. This is a hard race to win. And we want to have every horse in the race. Nuclear is an important one, gas is an important one.

Everyone wants to sort of say there’s one technology this the answer to everything. No. I’m just wondering. It’s a balance of technologies and right now, what is clear is Chris Bowen’s strategy is not getting us to where we need to go.

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Three-eyed koalas and Dutton as Snow White: how Simpsons memes have been weaponised in nuclear debate

Labor MPs tweet Simpsons jokes about nuclear policy after Dutton earlier conceded research found people ‘didn’t want a Springfield’ in their back yard

Three-eyed koalas, Peter Dutton masquerading as Snow White in a “seven nukes” fairytale, and an arsenal of Simpsons gags to boot.

The Coalition is objecting about what they say are “juvenile” online memes from government MPs attacking its nuclear policy, as Labor MPs mount a social media attack on the opposition’s controversial and uncosted nuclear proposal.

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Senate opposition firms against Coalition’s nuclear power plan as David Pocock blasts ‘reckless’ proposal

ACT senator says he is not ideologically opposed but Coalition’s nuclear proposal is ‘unrealistic’ while Lidia Thorpe says it doesn’t make economic sense

Senate opposition to the Coalition’s nuclear plan is firming, presenting a major hurdle to Peter Dutton’s proposal for seven nuclear power plants on top of state objections.

In addition to Labor and the Greens, independent senators Lidia Thorpe and David Pocock have voiced major criticisms of the policy, while Jacqui Lambie, who has previously expressed support for nuclear to be part of the mix, is investigating the Coalition’s proposal and is concerned nuclear plants are “incredibly expensive”.

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