'Whole thing is a mystery': Reef Foundation windfall hits private fund

The Turnbull government's claim its $444 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation would spur private donations has been disputed by a leading coral scientist who says funding for his own venture has dried up in the wake of the cash splash.

Charlie Veron, a global expert in corals, said the
granting of a huge wad of funds to the Great
 Barrier Reef Foundation saw funding for his Corals
 of the World website dry up.

Charlie Veron, a marine biologist dubbed "the godfather of coral" for discovering more than one-fifth the world's coral species, said US donors to his Corals of the World website dropped plans to donate $60,000 once they saw "the Australian government was going to pour a fortune" into reef projects.

Read Peter Hannam’s story from The Age - “'Whole thing is a mystery': Reef Foundation windfall hits private fund.”

NEG will fail to lift investor confidence: analysts

The Turnbull government's much-debated National Energy Guarantee will fail to lift energy investors' confidence even if gets approval and goes ahead, leading industrial analyst IBISWorld says.

IBISWorld believes that the NEG will fail to provide investor certainty.

The global analysis firm said the final NEG decision, due Tuesday and Wednesday this week, will lock in energy and climate policy mechanisms that will ultimately dissuade investment.

The Coalition claims the NEG will remove uncertainty, but IBISWorld said ongoing debates in the energy industry and action by activists will stop it achieving these aims.

Read the story from The Age by Cole Latimer - “NEG will fail to lift investor confidence: analysts.”

National Energy Guarantee will help cut power prices in most states and territories in the next decade, report finds

Households would save about $150 every year on their power bills under the Turnbull Government's flagship energy policy, a new report has found.

New research says the average household would
 make an additional saving of $150 under the NEG.

The research said the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) would help cut prices in most states and territories in the next decade.

Energy Ministers from across the country will decide the policy's fate at a crucial meeting on August 10 — a gathering that could end more than a decade of bickering over energy and climate change.

The average household would "save around $550 a year on their retail bill over the 2020s relative to 2017-18," the official report predicted.

Read the ABC News story - “National Energy Guarantee will help cut power prices in most states and territories in the next decade, report finds.”

National Farmers Federation says electricity best place to make emissions cuts

The National Farmers Federation has taken a veiled swipe at the Turnbull government's signature energy plan, suggesting proposed emissions cuts in the electricity sector lack ambition and may have unfair consequences for agriculture. 

The National Farmers Federation has suggested emissions
reduction imposed on agriculture could have unfair consequences.

The comments add weight to criticism that the National Energy Guarantee shifts the burden of climate action to other parts of the economy where emissions reduction is more expensive and difficult.

The new national energy policy would set emission caps and and reliability standards for electricity retailers. The government says this will reduce the risk of blackouts, curb dangerous greenhouse gas emissions and deliver lower electricity prices by encouraging more investment and supply.

Read the story by Nicole Hasham from today’s Age - “National Farmers Federation says electricity best place to make emissions cuts.”

‘Inherent flaw': ACT threatens to block energy plan

The Turnbull government's signature energy plan fails to anticipate sudden exits of ailing coal-fired power plants and could lock in targets for a decade - two key design flaws that incline the ACT government to block it, Shane Rattenbury, the territory's energy minister said.

ACT Energy Minister Shane Rattenbury won't back the
National Energy Guarantee in its current form.

"It's very difficult for us to sign up [to the National Energy Guarantee] in the current form," Mr Rattenbury told Fairfax Media. His support will be crucial for the NEG to succeed because it requires all states and territories to sign up. The Federal Government hopes the NEG will reduce power prices, cut carbon emissions and improve reliability of the grid.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Hannam - “‘Inherent flaw': ACT threatens to block energy plan.”

Climate truce in sight as Labor warms to National Energy Guarantee

Labor would retain the Turnbull government's cornerstone energy policy but legally enforce deeper emissions cuts on the electricity industry, suggesting elusive bipartisan action on the climate crisis is within reach.

Opposition climate change and energy spokesman
Mark Butler argues Labor would have a strong
 national emissions target.

The pledge is a departure from the emissions intensity scheme Labor took to the 2016 election, and comes days out from pivotal negotiations between the Commonwealth and the states over the design of the Coalition's policy, known as the National Energy Guarantee.

Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Mark Butler on Monday said if the NEG was implemented, a future Labor government would legislate to lift the policy's emissions reduction target for the electricity sector to match Labor’s stronger national target.

Read the story by Nicole Hasham and Cole Latimer from The Age - “Climate truce in sight as Labor warms to National Energy Guarantee.”

Labor and Greens lose bid to stop overhaul of sensitive marine zones

The Turnbull government's bid to wind back protections in sensitive marine areas has been won after the Senate voted down a bid by Labor and the Greens to block the changes.

Environmentalists are incensed at the proposal to
reduce highest-level protections in the Coral Sea.

The government on Tuesday night unexpectedly forced a vote on a Labor disallowance motion that would have vetoed the reduced conservation standards. A vote was not expected for several weeks.

The Greens had pledged to back Labor to block the cuts. However none of the 11 crossbenchers - many caught up in negotiations over the government's company tax cuts in recent days - had committed to supporting the move at the time of the vote.

The motion was defeated 34 votes to 28. A number of senators were absent for the vote.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story from today’s Age - “Labor and Greens lose bid to stop overhaul of sensitive marine zones.”

'Wasteful stunt': Turnbull government accused of doing too little to save reef

The Turnbull government's pledge of an additional $60 million to help improve the health of the Great Barrier Reef has been dismissed by environmental groups and scientists as insufficient and a "wasteful publicity stunt”.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visits the Australian Institute
 of Marine Science (AIMS) to unveil the 'rescue plan' for the reef.

The government's pledge of the funds over 18 months includes $10.4 million for "an all-out assault" to reduce the impact of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, the government said in a statement.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in The Sydney Morning Herald - “‘Wasteful stunt': Turnbull government accused of doing too little to save reef.” 

Replacing Liddell with renewables is $1.4 billion cheaper than government plan, report says

The Turnbull government's plan to keep the worn-out Liddell power station running for another five years would cost about $1.4 billion more than replacing it with clean energy, and spew millions of tonnes of damaging carbon pollution, a new analysis shows.

The Australian Conservation Foundation says
 replacing Liddell's capacity with clean energy
would be far cheaper and less polluting.

The findings cast further doubt on the wisdom of keeping Australia's oldest operating coal plant open beyond its slated closure in 2022, and have implications for the expected retirement of most existing coal-fired power stations within 15 years.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg in September ordered energy giant AGL to keep open the coal-fired plant for five extra years or sell it to a party that will.

The demand followed a report by the Australian Energy Market Operator that warned the closure of Liddell, in NSW's Hunter region, would leave a 1000-megawatt shortfall of "flexible, dispatchable" capacity, which is energy that can be created on demand.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Replacing Liddell with renewables is $1.4 billion cheaper than government plan, report says.”

Productivity Commission fuels energy war by calling for carbon price

Productivity Commission
chairman, Peter Harris.

The Productivity Commission has thrown a spanner in the Turnbull government's attempts to settle Australia's intractable climate wars, calling the policy landscape a "regulatory mess" and calling for a price on carbon.

It comes a week after the government released its much-anticipated energy blueprint, the national energy guarantee, which was designed to quell debate and meet Australia's international emissions obligations without a carbon price.

The independent Productivity Commission released its five-year productivity review on Tuesday. It was commissioned by Treasurer Scott Morrison.  

The review said immediate action was needed to manage the looming risk of summer blackouts, however there was a real danger Australia's longer-term electricity needs would not be met if "the regulatory mess persists”.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age by Nicole Hasham - “Productivity Commission fuels energy war by calling for carbon price.”

Malcolm Turnbull's national energy guarantee plan masks a carbon price

The Turnbull government's new national energy guarantee could introduce a de facto carbon price, measuring the cost of emissions for the first time since the Abbott government scrapped the carbon tax in 2014.

Placing a price on carbon: One default outcome of a National Energy Guarantee.

The long-awaited energy plan, released by the government on Tuesday, requires electricity retailers to ensure improved reliability levels while also reducing carbon emissions in line with Australia's Paris Agreement commitments.

Buried in the detail of advice presented by the new Energy Security Board to state and federal governments is a mechanism to be added to the National Electricity Market in two stages in 2019 and 2020 that could produce a default carbon price.

"Some electricity retailers will not be able to meet the required emissions profile, while others will overachieve," it reads. "Therefore a secondary exchange will occur between retailers to balance their portfolios."

Read Peter Hannam’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Malcolm Turnbull's national energy guarantee plan masks a carbon price.”

'Conflict of interest': Calls for Barnaby Joyce to sell CSG-linked land

Barnaby Joyce has been accused of a conflict of interest due to claims he could personally benefit from the Turnbull government's push to develop coal seam gas near land owned by the Deputy Prime Minister.

Property owned by Barnaby Joyce near Gwabegar,
described by locals as "mongrel country", fit for goats
 and not much else.

Mr Joyce, who is also the Resources Minister, missed a media event on Monday where the government demanded NSW accelerate approval of the Santos project at Narrabri, north-west of Sydney, to ease a looming gas shortage. He lists land at Gwabegar, west of Narrabri as part of his pecuniary interests.

While Mr Joyce said on Tuesday there is no prospect of gas being extracted on his land, local activists opposed to coal seam gas development say petroleum exploration licences all through the region depend on progress at Narrabri.  

The Nationals leader bought two blocks of about 1000 hectares in "mongrel country" of poor economic value in 2006 and 2008 for a reported $572,000.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “‘Conflict of interest': Calls for Barnaby Joyce to sell CSG-linked land.”