May 2024
Fossil fuel subsidies hit $14.5 billion in 2023-24, up 31%
New research from the Australia Institute has found that state and federal governments provided $14.5 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel producers and major consumers in 2023-24 – the equivalent of $27,581 for every minute of every day, or $540 for every person in Australia.
Fuel Tax Credits system continues to drive fossil fuel use and emissions
The Australia Institute has released new research on Australia’s largest fossil fuel subsidy, the Fuel Tax Credits Scheme (FTCS).
Video: Future Gas Strategy with Richard Denniss
It’s hard to believe in 2024 we still have Governments pretending we need to expand fossil fuel production to “help tackle climate change”.
Gas industry emissions will cost us much more than their so-called economic benefits
The emissions from the gas industry are delivering a devasting cost to our future
3 Gas Myths Debunked
While social licence for fossil fuels has slipped, gas seems to be clinging on longer than the rest.
Future Gas Strategy Takes Australians Through The Looking Glass
With the Future Gas Strategy, government policy has entered a backward land where logic is reversed, writes Stephen Long.
Simple changes to Petroleum Resources Rent Tax could raise $18 billion: new analysis
Simple reforms to the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax could raise $18 billion over the next four years, new Australia Institute research has found. The report, A Stronger PRRT Cap, demonstrates that straightforward reforms would raise more revenue than the government’s proposed 90% cap on the expenses oil and gas companies can deduct from their PRRT
Local government leaders call for higher PRRT to help adapt to climate change
37 local council leaders from across the country – including Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney - have signed an open letter calling on the federal government to increase the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) to help fund local communities addressing the impacts of climate change.
Future Gas Strategy underpins emissions, not renewables
The Federal Government’s Future Gas Strategy locks in fossil fuel expansion until 2050 and ignores the fact that the vast majority of Australia’s gas is used for exports, according to analysis from the Australia Institute.
New federal approval for giant WA gas project will release 3 billion tonnes of emissions
The Australian Government has approved key infrastructure for Chevron’s Gorgon LNG Stage 2 expansion that will produce 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions over the next 50 years.
New Analysis: WA drivers pay more rego than gas companies pay in royalties
New Australia Institute research released today shows that royalty payments by the gas industry are negligible and expected to contribute just 1.3% to this week’s WA budget.
“Here for the kiddies”: the Knitting Nannas calling for an end to fossil fuels
They knit, they sing, they even have their own ‘nannafesto’, and these unlikely environmental activists are a force to be reckoned with.
April 2024
WA’s gas shortage is a joke – at the public’s expense
Can you imagine Qatar or Saudi Arabia panicking about a gas or oil shortage?
Billboard highlights 90% of WA’s gas is exported and mostly royalty free
The Australia Institute has placed a prominent billboard reading “90% of WA’s gas is exported, mostly royalty free” in view of WA’s Parliament, Woodside’s offices and tens of thousands of motorists daily.
The Knitting Nannas redefining the face of activism
As the government shelves important reform to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, the Knitting Nannas are getting out into their communities and demanding an end to fossil fuel projects.
Smart, Grid-Interactive Buildings Can Help Solve Electricity Market Woes
New research shows that the country’s energy security can be supported with minimal intervention and investment, simply by changing the time of day that electricity is used and harnessing the power of buildings as thermal batteries.
90% of WA’s gas exported by foreign owned companies who get most of the gas for free
The Australia Institute has placed a full-page advertisement in The West Australian revealing stark findings about the gas industry in Western Australia.
Backing the renewable horse
The government is under fire for trying to ‘pick winners’, but green manufacturing could be the pony to get behind, says Greg Jericho.
Investing in a renewable manufacturing industry is vital for Australia’s living standards (and climate)
Australia’s economy is less an advanced economy than it is a petrostate style simple economy. That needs to change
Government Environment Reform Backdown Set to Lock In New Fossil Fuels and Extinctions
More than 100 environment groups have signed an open letter calling for strong environmental law reforms as the Federal Government backs out of its already overdue ‘Nature Positive Plan’ to reform the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. The open letter, coordinated by the Australia Institute, will appear in the Sydney Morning Herald, The
Nuclear power in Australia is a really bad idea. The ban ensures that is all it is
You can’t prevent people from having bad ideas and you can’t prevent people from talking about their bad ideas.
Video Report: The Carbon Credit Grift Destroying Koala Habitat
Despite a decade-long commitment to establish the Great Koala National Park, the NSW Labor Government is delaying its creation so that the forests can be exploited for carbon credits. It’s a decision with disastrous consequences for the koalas, and the climate.
What is the PRRT?
Gas extraction is often lauded by the industry as the ‘backbone of the Australian economy’, but the actual revenue collected from one of the main taxes on the industry falls staggeringly short of what most people would expect. Find out why this is the case – and what we can do to fix it.
Labor’s pledge to depoliticise the public service is undermined by the government only hearing what it wants to hear on climate change
While last year’s robodebt royal commission exposed a shocking lack of ethics among senior ranks of the Australian public service, the systemic condition still largely seems to be regarded as an aberration.
March 2024
Why the Carbon Myth Industry is bad for farmers
Jigsaw Farms, long held up as a shining star of carbon neutral farming, is no longer carbon neutral, although only just.
Coalition’s nuclear powerplay a “cynical distraction”
Rather than backing cheap and abundant renewable energy, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has gone all in on nuclear.
Government approves Santos Barossa pipeline and sea dumping
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s Department has approved a major part of Santos’ controversial Barossa gas export project, the Darwin Pipeline Duplication Project.
The Coalition goes nuclear
After scarcely mentioning it for nearly a decade while in government, the Coalition are now hot to trot on nuclear power – but why?
The Coalition’s nuclear power crusade is a futile distraction
Nuclear energy really is remarkable.
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