Federal budget: Half-a-billion dollars for the Great Barrier Reef

The Turnbull government will deliver the largest single environmental protection package in Australian history by committing half a billion dollars to protect the Great Barrier Reef from climate change and pollution.

The Great Barrier Reef, the largest living structure on the planet.

The investment, to be detailed in the May budget, will aim to shore up support in key Queensland seats ahead of an election in the next year, as the Coalition tries to balance environmental concerns with its pro-mining jobs focus through the Adani coal mine.

Read the story by Eryk Bagshaw from The Age - “Federal budget: Half-a-billion dollars for the Great Barrier Reef.”

(Don’t fall for this, it is political and rhetorical trickery. If the Federal Government was serious about saving the Great Barrier Reef it would tell Mr Adani to take his money, return to India and leave the coal he was so anxious to exploit in the ground. Climate change is the main player in the destruction of the reef and if Mr Frydenberg and his coalition counterparts were serious in their intentions to save the reef they would make climate change mitigation its first priority and that means an immediate shift from the use of any fossil fuels - Robert McLean)

Malcolm Turnbull's energy policy offers hope via carbon price

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's electricity and climate package is a welcome attempt to end a decade of policy mismanagement by providing the stability and certainty industry has been pleading for to underpin much-needed investment.

Let there be light: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
discusses his climate and energy package.

The potentially crucial breakthrough is that the package appears to envisage a market-based price on carbon emissions, widely acknowledged as the most rational and cost-effective mechanism for the transition to renewable energy, the price of which is becoming compellingly competitive.

It is too early to assess whether the policy is the "game-changer" Mr Turnbull claims; it is yet to be fully detailed and depends on the support of the states, a number of which want a faster shift to renewables. Federal bipartisan support is also vital to the certainty and confidence required by investors.

Read today’s Editorial in today’s Melbourne Age - “Malcolm Turnbull's energy policy offers hope via carbon price.”