Minister backs foreign commercial fish farms over endangered native species
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt has used changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to allow the continuation of commercial salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour.
Paid to pollute – new analysis reveals how big polluters are making a mockery of Australia’s key climate policy
New analysis by The Australia Institute reveals how the nation’s biggest polluters are making a mockery of Australia’s key climate policy, the safeguard mechanism.
The Safeguard Mechanism’s pro-fossil flaws – explained
Governments work hard to ensure that Australian climate policy seems effective to media and voters, while simultaneously ensuring it does nothing to limit the key thing that is wrecking the climate – fossil fuel expansion.
Woodside’s Science Week sponsorship risks undermining WA Museum’s scientific integrity
The Western Australian Museum’s decision to allow Woodside Energy’s sponsorship of Science Week risks undermining the museum’s scientific integrity.
ACTU plan to tax gas exports would cut energy bills and allow government to triple spending on housing
Analysis by The Australia Institute shows ACTU Secretary Sally McManus’s call for a 25% tax on revenue from gas exports to replace the “broken” Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) would raise around $12.5 billion annually, enough to triple the Australian government’s housing expenditure.
July 2025
Gas exports have tripled Australian gas prices and doubled electricity prices
New Australia Institute research reveals that gas exports have led to the tripling of wholesale east coast gas prices and doubling of electricity prices, since exports began in 2015.
Open Letter to the Tasmanian Government
The Australia Institute and 30 other organisations from around Tasmania have published an open letter with 10 asks for the environment from whomever forms Tasmania’s next government. When cross-benchers and major parties have struck successful power-sharing agreements elsewhere, they covered policy as well as procedure, making now the ideal time for progress.
Government data confirms Australia doesn’t need more gas
Projections released by the Albanese Government show Australia’s gas consumption is in long-term decline — undermining claims by the Prime Minister that more gas is needed to support the renewable energy transition. Analysis by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) confirms that Australia’s gas use peaked years ago and will continue
NSW court blocking largest coalmine expansion in state a big win for the environment
The Australia Institute welcomes reports that the New South Wales Court of Appeal has overturned the approval of one of the largest coal mine expansions in the state.
ICJ ruling confirms states have a legal duty to act on climate — Australia now faces a clear choice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has confirmed that states have binding legal obligations under international law to prevent climate harm and protect present and future generations.
Oil and gas export rip-off gets worse as Australian governments hand back royalties to Big Gas
Reporting in Boiling Cold confirms the Australian and Western Australian governments will hand back almost half of the royalties collected from the Chevron-operated Barrow Island joint venture oil facility in WA. The deal between Chevron and the Australian and WA governments means taxpayers will pay Chevron and its joint venture partners, Santos and Exxon, at least $500 million.
WA and federal governments allowing Woodside to export large amounts of WA’s domestic gas reserves
Reporting today confirms large quantities of Western Australia’s domestic gas reserves are being exported via Woodside’s North West Shelf project, and the federal and Western Australian governments are letting it happen.
Why a fossil fuel-free COP could put Australia’s bid over the edge
When the medical world hosts a conference on quitting smoking, they don’t invite Phillip Morris, or British American Tobacco along to help “be part of the solution”.
Just 3% of Australians support the sale of Santos to foreign investors
New polling, commissioned by The Australia Institute, reveals just 3% of Australians want the federal government to approve the sale of Australian-based oil and gas company, Santos, to foreign investors.
What is the government doing to protect the World Heritage-listed Murujuga rock art?
The ancient Indigenous rock art on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula has been deservedly listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Register.
No nukes: Australia must push for serious global nuclear disarmament | Tilman Ruff
Nuclear weapons are still a threat to humanity. In our age of uncertainty, Australia isn’t doing enough to rid the world of these weapons.
June 2025
Anthony Albanese can restrict gas exports and save the Tomago aluminium smelter
Taxpayers are being asked to hand over billions to multinational mining giant Rio Tinto to help keep its Tomago aluminium smelter open – again.
Time to end university greenwashing: The Australia Institute
The role of Monash University in greenwashing the activities of Woodside and other fossil fuel companies has been revealed by journalist Royce Kurmelovs in climate-focused publication Drilled and Crikey. Kurmelovs’ report reinforces Australia Institute research highlighting the crisis of integrity in the governance of Australia’s universities. Upcoming Australia Institute research will further outline Monash and other universities’
A new tax to help Australians kick their fast fashion addiction
France has become the first country in the world to tax ultra-fast fashion brands like Temu and Shein.
Time to wind back taxpayer-funded diesel for mining giants
There’s a common-sense decision the federal government could make today that would help the transition to renewable energy and save taxpayers billions of dollars a year.
Limit gas exports to save smelter
As Rio Tinto’s Tomago aluminium smelter requests a government bailout, The Australia Institute has linked the struggles of the smelter to unrestricted gas exports.
May 2025
As Murray Watt signs the death warrant for an ancient treasure, The Australia Institute launches a heartbreaking Murujuga documentary
The federal government has signed the death warrant for Australia’s most significant ancient artistic treasure, the Indigenous rock art at Murujuga in north Western Australia.
Great gas giveaway: $215 billion in royalty-free gas for Woodside’s North West Shelf project
A 50-year extension to the North West Shelf (NWS) project in Western Australia would see huge amounts of gas given away with no return for Australians.
Gas export approval puts gas corporations before Australians
The approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas export project shows that the re-elected Albanese Government prioritises gas corporations over Australians.
Gas companies in Queensland still not paying tax
New analysis by The Australia Institute reveals that ten years after gas exports from Queensland began, most of the companies involved have never paid a cent in company tax.
The Safeguard Mechanism helps gas companies take the piss
The Government’s Safeguard Mechanism is supposed to limit emissions; instead, it just lets companies cheat.
_Woodside’s WA gas export expansion emissions greater than all Australia’s coal power stations
New Australia Institute research shows emissions from Western Australia’s gas exports are 182 million tonnes CO2e annually, which is:
Soft plastic recycling is back in supermarkets!
For many of us, the end of June will mark the return of soft plastic recycling run by the Soft Plastics Taskforce (SPT), which is made up of the three major supermarkets: Woolworths Group, Coles Group and ALDI. But this may be premature since the joint recycling strategy from the Ministry of the Environment and
State sponsored greenwashing misleading consumers and failing businesses
Civil litigation over alleged greenwashing by Energy Australia reveals the Australian government is failing to protect consumers and businesses from misleading claims and harmful practices.
The opportunity of a lifetime. The first big test for the newly elected government.
Dozens of Australia’s leading climate and conservation groups have written an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to put a more ambitious climate policy at the heart of his government’s plans for its second term.
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