CLIMATIC CHANGES – AUSTRALIA

Climate change spend surges to $9bn a year

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 4-Jun-25

Analysis by the Institute for Public Affairs shows that the federal government’s spending on climate change and net zero policies has increased by 400 per cent since it took office in May 2022. Labor allocated more than $9bn to such initiatives in its pre-election budget in March, compared with just $1.7bn in the former Coalition government’s last budget in March 2022. This compares with the $600m that was spent on climate change and net zero programs a decade ago. The IPA’s chief economist Adam Creighton says that despite the big increase in spending on net zero, the government’s own figures show that Australia’s carbon emissions have fallen by just 2.8 per cent compared with 2005 levels.

CORPORATES
INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Climate plans of Australian companies would be exempt from private litigation for three years under proposal

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Original article by Adam Morton
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 16-Jul-24

Legislation currently before the Senate aims to expand the amount of information that companies provide about the risk the climate crisis poses to their business and what they intend to do about it. The legislation provides a grace period of three years in terms of certain statements by companies, directors and auditors being subject to legal challenge, unless the company is being accused of criminal behaviour or is the target of action by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Although the legislation has been praised for targeting corporate climate responsibility, concerns have been expressed that the exemption will allow polluting companies to avoid public scrutiny for longer

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

PM cites national security as a key climate incentive

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 19-Oct-21

Sources within the National Party are hopeful that it can strike a deal with the Liberals over a net zero emissions target by 2050 by the end of the week, or at the beginning of next week at the latest. The Nationals met for the second day in a row on 18 October to discuss their stance on a climate deal, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the Liberal partyroom on the issue. He is said to have told the meeting that the election of US President Joe Biden has increased the pressure on Australia to commit to a net zero target, apparently saying that Australia needs the Western alliance "now more than ever".

CORPORATES
NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Union roasting for Labor: you are out of step

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 4 : 12-Nov-20

The fallout from Joel Fitzgibbon’s resignation from federal Labor’s frontbench over the party’s stance on climate change is continuing. Labor MP Mark Dreyfus has accused Fitzgibbon of being "out of step" with regional Australians on environmental policy; however, former ACTU president Jennie George contends that the only people who are out of step are Labor MPs who have failed to note the outcome of the 2019 election, which saw voters reject Labor’s climate policies. Peter Jordan of the construction union says Fitzgibbon has merely been trying to get Labor back in touch with its traditional supporter base.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Big miners back a greener future

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Original article by Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 22-Jun-20

The Minerals Council of Australia will release details of a three-year climate action plan on 22 June, as well as endorsing the Paris agreement. The MCA’s climate plan includes the use of renewable energy and electric vehicles at mine sites, and it has been put together in response to a climate change backlash from fund managers and shareholders of MCA member companies. As to the issue of zero net emissions targets, MCA CEO Tania Constable says there is no set sector-wide deadline, with member companies having their own timeframes.

CORPORATES
MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Australia will take new emissions reduction target to Glasgow climate summit

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Original article by Rob Harris
The Age – Page: Online : 10-Feb-20

Energy Minister Angus Taylor says the federal government will develop a new long-term carbon emissions reduction strategy ahead of the United Nations climate summit in November. He has stressed that the government is of the view that new technologies rather than taxes are the key to reducing carbon emissions. However, the government has declined to commit to a target of net zero emissions by 2050. Meanwhile, independent MP Zali Steggall plans to introduce a private member’s bill to establish an independent Climate Change Commission.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Fire inquiry accepts climate link: Morrison

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 6-Feb-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advised that former defence force chief Mark Binskin will head the federal government’s bushfires royal commission. Morrison says the inquiry will proceed on the basis that climate change is real and contributed to the scale and severity of the bushfires. National Party leader Michael McCormack says that while human activity has contributed to climate change, it is the role of scientists to determine the extent of this. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in turn has pointed to arson as one of the causes of the bushfires.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Bandt abused PM with deaths claim

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 4 : 5-Feb-20

Adam Bandt has stepped up his attack on the federal government’s environmental credentials after being elected unopposed as the new leader of the Greens. He has claimed that the Coalition’s climate change policy will result in many more deaths than the recent bushfires, as it will result in a 3-degree temperature increase. Bandt also contends that the business models of fossil fuel producers are unsustainable, and he has called for domestic coal-fired power generation and coal exports to be phased out by 2030. Larissa Waters and Nick McKim are the new joint deputy leaders of the Greens.

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AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Malcolm Turnbull slams PM’s response to climate change and bushfires

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Original article by Bevan Shields
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 23-Jan-20

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has used a BBC interview to criticise his successor Scott Morrison over his handling of the bushfires crisis. Amongst other things, Turnbull has accused Morrison of misleading the public by downplaying the impact of climate change on the bushfires. He has also questioned why Morrison had ignored warnings from fire experts about the likely severity of the bushfire season. Turnbull has also called US President Donald Trump the world’s "leading climate denier" and doubled down on his criticism of News Corp’s stance on climate change.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION

No more carbon cuts, PM warned

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 16-Jan-20

Some Coalition MPs say that the federal government must not make significant changes to its carbon emission reduction targets in response to the bushfires crisis. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated that the nation will exceed its 2030 target of reducing emissions by 26-28 per cent; he has also emphasised that a range of measures in response to climate change are needed, rather than simply reducing emissions. Former National Party leader Barnaby has called for the construction of nuclear power plants in Australia, as well as clean-coal power stations. Sources within the government have suggested that reviving the national energy guarantee policy is unlikely.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY