February
Frustrated Woodside wants to step on the gas
CEO Meg O’Neill is optimistic about a big future for oil and gas projects despite lacklustre share price and contradictory messages from governments and investors.
Indigenous rock art report at centre of North West Shelf delay
A rift has opened between the West Australian and Albanese governments over the deferral of a decision to extend Woodside’s huge gas project off the state’s coast.
Whyalla deal shows the rising price of a future made in Australia
Australia is offering subsidies not just to keep old industries alive but for the future-facing minerals processing that would supply batteries and electric vehicles.
Labor delays decision on Woodside’s decades-long North West extension
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said her department needed more time to assess the proposal, which would add five decades more to the life of the project.
D-Day looms for Woodside’s massive North West Shelf gas project
It’s either crucial to energy security, or a climate disaster in the making. Labor will have to decide whether to let the LNG operation run another 50 years.
January
WA Labor premier calls on Dutton to find way forward on nature laws
Roger Cook says the Albanese government must ramp up engagement with the state’s mining giants over a set of divisive environmental reforms.
WA premier lobbies federal Labor to kill EPA, miners cry foul
Roger Cook is pushing his federal counterparts to scrap a renewed move for a federal Environment Protection Agency – ‘If it’s not good for WA, I’m against it’.
WA premier warns east coast latte sippers over ‘nature positive’ laws
Tanya Plibersek’s renewed attempt to create a federal Environment Protection Agency inflames tensions in WA, a state that will be critical at the election.
Labor splurges cash in five-hour blitz of Tasmania
There has been a whirlwind round of funding announcements as the prime minister and three ministers covered Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Flinders Island.
December 2024
The big sting: how a mythical bee halted a gold mine
When a NSW mining project was halted to protect hotly disputed Indigenous heritage it showed a lot has changed since Juukan Gorge, even if the laws haven’t.
WA government green lights Woodside’s North West Shelf extension
The West Australian government has given Woodside the green light to extend the life of its North West Shelf gas processing facility.
How salmon could cost Labor majority government
A fierce backlash over a review into fish farming in Macquarie Harbour in the state’s west that is costing the party votes in battleground electorates.
PM lacks the guts to try again on EPA: Greens
Anthony Albanese has been labelled both courageous and gutless after he torpedoed talks to establish an EPA.
November 2024
Why Albanese kneecapped Plibersek
The PM, pushed by WA’s Roger Cook, made a captain’s call to deny Peter Dutton the chance to paint Labor as anti-WA or anti-mining.
RBA board overhaul back in play after Labor, Greens reopen talks
The Albanese government has reopened talks with the Greens on reforms of the Reserve Bank, two months after declaring them dead.
Regis Resources sues federal government over gold mine order
WA gold miner Regis Resources, whose $1 billion NSW project was derailed by a shock Indigenous heritage ruling, is challenging the decision.
October 2024
Gina Rinehart slashes plans for next big mine as ESG factors hit
The billionaire businesswoman has dramatically scaled back the proposed Mulga Downs iron ore project by 40 per cent to overcome environmental concerns.
September 2024
Going gets tough for Labor in the Senate as time gets short
Only two bills were passed by the upper house this week, further adding to the government’s legislative backlog.
Not pulling the climate trigger shows needle Labor must thread
Anthony Albanese has overruled Tanya Plibersek on a deal with the Greens because he doesn’t want to hang a lantern over what a Labor-Greens minority government might entail for the mining industry, especially in WA.
Labor’s national Environment Protection Agency explained
The proposed EPA has been described by environmentalists as too weak, while miners fear it will add to onerous approvals processes they say risk investment.