Back to square one in energy policy: we now have a plan to produce a plan

A year and a day — that’s how long it took Frydenberg to kill off “Finkel”.

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull (left) and federal environment
and energy minister John Frydenberg during a press conference
at parliament house in Canberra on 17 October 2017.

On 7 October 2016, just nine days after a series of tornados took out at least 22 transmission pylons in South Australia and set off a cascading series of events resulting in a state-wide blackout, federal environment and energy minister John Frydenberg commissioned chief scientist professor Alan Finkel to review the stability of our energy system. Finkel’s expert team met with regulators around the world, considered 390 submissions, held 120 meetings and commissioned modelling from multiple experts.

On 8 October this year, word trickled out that the clean energy target (CET), Finkel’s centrepiece, was dead.

A week later, Frydenberg announced the national energy guarantee (Neg). In just three weeks, with no public process, no modelling, no consultation with the Coag energy council, whose approval it requires, the newly formed Energy Security Board (ESB) had knocked together an alternative “conceptual framework”, described in an eight-page letter and a media release, that proposes to push responsibility for reliability and emissions reduction to electricity retailers.

Read the story by Simon Holmes à Court on The Guardian - “Back to square one in energy policy: we now have a plan to produce a plan.”

More than trees needed to bring wildlife back to our cities

The federal environment and acting cities minister, Greg Hunt, on Tuesday pledged to increase the number of trees in Australian cities. In a bid to fight higher urban temperatures, the plan will set targets for tree cover.

This is part of a green revolution spreading through the world’s cities. From New York to Singapore, urban areas are undertaking bold “greenspace” initiatives – removing concrete and allowing trees and vegetation back in.

Some of the benefits include replacing the ugly infrastructural trappings of vehicles and motorways as well as cooling cities, absorbing air pollution and minimising runoff. These greenings further have mental health benefits, by bringing residents and visitors alike back into contact with the land.

Read the piece on The Conversation by Adjunct Professor of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, Peter Fisher - “Concrete jungle? We’ll have to do more than plan trees to bring wildlife back to our cities.”