Coalition signals competition law changes to deal with energy market concentration

The Turnbull government is signalling changes to the competition law to deal with market concentration in the energy sector.

 Josh Frydenberg is waiting on advice from the Australian
 Competition and Consumer Commission about electricity
prices and market dynamics 

The move comes as the energy market operator reports that the national energy grid maintained high levels of reliability over the summer, despite a number of heatwaves, and there were no supply interruptions due to insufficient generation.

After a discussion in the Coalition party room on Tuesday where a backbencher advocated a change in the competition law to stop companies providing essential services from acting uncompetitively, the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, said he was “worried” about the current level of concentration of ownership in the energy market “and what that means for consumers”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Coalition signals competition law changes to deal with energy market concentration.”

Decision on solar farms now out of council's hands

Greater Shepparton City Council will no longer need to deal with four large-scale solar applications after handing them over to the Victorian planning minister at Tuesday’s meeting.

Greater Shepparton Mayor,
Kim O'Keeffe.

Solar farm planning permit applications for Tallygaroopna, Congupna, Lemnos and Tatura East were called in by Planning Minister Richard Wynne ahead of the meeting.

‘‘Our Planning Minister Richard Wynne has pulled it in and he’ll have a specialised expert panel that will listen,’’ City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Kim O’Keeffe said.

‘‘We’re very pleased that it’s been acknowledged as a priority.’’

Objector to the application in Tatura East, Geoff Slorach, said he and the fellow residents concerned with the application were pleased Mr Wynne would deal with the potential solar farms.

‘‘The council has taken the right approach by not making the decision and passing it onto the planning minister,’’ he said.

‘‘They’re not qualified and not informed enough and they’re out of their depth because of the magnitude of the projects, the ongoing effects to residents, the impact to growers and also the loss of water infrastructure.’’

Cr O’Keeffe acknowledged the fact it was difficult for the council to make decisions when it came to solar because there were no Victorian Government guidelines set in place.

‘‘We really didn’t have anything to go by and it’s very difficult to make decisions (when that’s the case),’’ she said.

‘‘There’s definitely a need for renewable energy and we know that and there’s obviously huge economic opportunity but it also has to come back to the right location.’’

Mr Slorach echoed Cr O’Keeffe’s sentiment and said although he was pro-solar, he had concerns about the proposed location.

‘‘I fully support solar farms and the reasons for them but they have to be designed in the right areas and hopefully the planning minister will take on board what they’ve done in NSW (and set some guidelines),’’ he said.

Cr O’Keeffe said an external panel would work with Mr Wynne and they had requested the panel come to Shepparton.

‘‘We have also put in some comments and some proposals that we would like considered which is obviously very important,’’ she said.

Timelines for the panel hearing are not yet known.

Story from today’s Shepparton News by Tara Whitsed - “Decision out of their hands.”

Away from the public gaze, serious threats to the environment keep rising

Threats to the Australian environment get reported in bursts – a contested development decision or a particular conservation campaign can thrust an issue into the headlines and on to the nightly news bulletins for weeks before a deal is crunched and a “solution” heralded.

Our environment is always under threat, especially when we divert our gaze.

But the “solutions” are often illusory and the actual threats keep rising, away from the scrutiny of the political and news cycles.

As the last five-yearly and independent “state of the environment report” found: “The main pressures facing the Australian environment today are the same as in 2011: climate change, land use change, habitat fragmentation and degradation, and invasive species,” with interactions between them amplifying the threats.

It noted that in a few cases (such as air quality and poor agricultural practices) the pressures had eased, but in most (such as grazing, invasive species, habitat destruction, coalmining and urban growth) they had worsened.

After 30 years of environment reporting, on and off, it’s evident that the “deals” to end headline-grabbing environmental battles often aren’t enduring solutions at all, with the scrapping continuing away from the national public gaze.

Read the story by Lenore Taylor from The Guardian  - “Away from the public gaze, serious threats to the environment keep rising.”