February 2024
The Great Gas Rort: Fixing the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax
Every year, the Commonwealth collects more revenue from HECS than it gets from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax. The PRRT is so weak that gas companies love it! Mark Ogge explains the Government’s proposed changes, and how we can fix it to tax our gas companies fairly. This was recorded on Tuesday 6th February 2024
5 key takeaways from Richard Denniss’ National Press Club Address
Enjoy five key takeaways from Richard Denniss’ address to the National Press Club, 31 January 2024.
January 2024
Here are 23 Times Carbon Offsets Were Found to be Dodgy
Carbon offsetting has received a lot of attention recently. As businesses and governments look to meet their climate targets, many are turning to carbon offsets. That is, they are paying someone else to reduce or avoid putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, so they don’t have to.
Australian governments suck up to Japanese fossil fuel companies. Again.
The Australian and Northern Territory Governments continue to do all they can to help foreign gas companies including giving them gas for free, despite them paying next to no tax.
Heat: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet with Jeff Goodell | Summer Series
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. Extreme heat is the most direct and deadly consequence of our hellbent consumption of fossil fuels. It is a first order threat that drives all other impacts of the climate crisis. And as the temperature rises,
December 2023
Volunteer Firefighters Should Receive Army Reserve Style Support, 85% of Australians Agree
An overwhelming majority (85%) of Australians support better conditions for volunteer firefighters through an Army Reserve style model in the face of longer and more ferocious bushfire seasons, new research from the Australia Institute shows.
Big Petrostate Energy
The United Nations annual climate conference, COP28, is wrapping up, and it’s crunch time. Is there going to be a mention of actually phasing out fossil fuels? Or will we have more of avoiding the issue? This was recorded on Tuesday 12th December 2023 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Polly
The Wellbeing Framework’s metric of greenhouse gas emissions is the same one used by past climate-change denying governments
The most important issue for Australians’ wellbeing is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and yet the government is not being honest about its progress in the the Wellbeing Framework.
Dystopian satire: COP28 conference hosted by petrostate
The United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai has played out like a dystopian satire. Hosted by a petrostate, the official facilitator of the proceedings, Sultan Al Jaber, is also the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company—if you scripted it, it wouldn’t be believable.
Why are gas companies trying to sell us hydrogen?
The hydrogen dream has become widespread in the Australian climate conversation: apparently, with it, we’re going to decarbonise Japan, Korea, and the world! Is this ambitious vision a genuine step towards a greener future or merely a diversion from ongoing fossil fuel expansion?
The New Face of Climate Denial
Old-fashioned climate change denialism is the risk you run when you hold an international climate conference in a Middle Eastern petrostate and hand the reins to an oil baron, writes Stephen Long, but in practice, is Australia really much better?
November 2023
The Government needs to stop using dodgy “land use” accounting to suggest emissions are falling
It is time for the Government to stop using land use figures to make their greenhouse gas emission projections look better than they really are.
....8 things Chris Bowen didn’t tell you about Australia’s climate failure
Chris Bowen, the Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy, has presented the Annual Climate Change Statement to Parliament, but it didn’t tell the full story.
Clive Palmer of…Singapore?
Clive Palmer, one of Australia’s richest men, is suing Australia for $41.3bn, claiming it breached the ASEAN free trade agreement in relation to coal exploration permits. But he’s doing so…as a foreign investor? Stephen Long explains how Clive Palmer’s controversial legal strategies challenge Australia’s trade agreements and environmental laws. Stephen Long is a Senior Fellow
“That’s a great text!” – A Message from the Minister
Resources Minister Madeleine King texts in a question for Richard Denniss during a live interview about fossil fuels on ABC radio.
Who knew Queensland’s richest man is a foreign investor?
Clive Palmer’s controversial legal strategies challenge Australia’s trade agreements and environmental laws, and have profound implications for global climate action, writes Stephen Long.
Who cares about national security?
In parliament last week, responding to the temporary blocking of a legislative favour to Santos, Foreign Minister Penny Wong berated the opposition. The bill – which did eventually pass – is designed to facilitate massive expansion of the gas industry.
With costs rising for public infrastructure, the government needs to stop approving coal and gas mines
In a tight labour market, approving new coal and gas mines is not just bad for the climate, it also raises the cost of public infrastructure projects.
How Labor out-loved the Coalition in its embrace of big oil and gas
“You know what you’ve been doing,” said Foreign Minister and Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Penny Wong, wagging her finger at the Opposition senators across the Chamber.
Government’s ‘dirty favour for Santos’ bill passes with opposition support
A government bill that paves the way for Santos’ controversial Barossa offshore gas project passed the Senate last night with the support of the opposition, following a marathon week-long debate.
Two-thirds of Australians back doctors’ call for “health trigger” for coal, gas projects
Two-thirds of Australians support the federal government making new fossil fuel project approvals dependent on an assessment of their health impacts, according to new research by Doctors for the Environment Australia and the Australia Institute.
Massive Gap Between Rhetoric and Actions on Emissions
Farmers know you can’t fatten a pig on market day and scientists know you can’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 while expanding coal, oil and gas production.
Global Report Highlights “Enormous Chasm” Between Government Rhetoric and Climate Action
A major international report shows that international efforts to reduce coal, oil, and gas production in line with limiting warming to 1.5°C are on track to fall catastrophically short. The Production Gap Report 2023 finds that global governments plan to produce more than double –110% more fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to
New research shows our 2030 emission targets are woefully out of date
The evidence is clear – our current policies and targets are insufficient to prevent dangerous global warming, and not aligned with latest scientific research.
October 2023
Proposed NT gas mega-projects will crowd out jobs and non-gas businesses
Australia Institute analysis shows the benefits of gas development in the NT have been overstated, and that gas development will crowd out jobs in other industries.
Australia is an energy super power, we need to use that power for good
Australia is already an energy superpower, but our governments have lacked the courage to use that power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
‘World’s Worst EV Policy’ Scrapped by High Court
State based electric vehicle taxes have been struck down by the High Court of Australia, paving the way for the Federal Government to act on increasing the uptake and availability of EVs across the country, the Australia Institute has said. Key points: State based EV taxes, dubbed the ‘worst electric vehicle policy in the world’
Government Wins the Right to Ignore Climate Risk of Gas and Coal Projects
The Federal Court has today handed down its judgment on the Living Wonders case, finding that Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek was legally correct to ignore the climate impacts of the Narrabri and Mount Pleasant coal mines.
Australia’s compromised climate negotiators
Sitting in a bar in Manhattan recently, there for Climate Week NYC and the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit, I watched as Australians from both government and the private sector worked the room.
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