December 2024
South32 claims alumina victory as WA minister backs Worsley expansion
The Perth-based miner has received tentative approval from WA’s environment minister to extend the life of its Worsley Alumina project, overruling some objections
- Mark Wembridge
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
Emerson overstates RBA’s impact on jobs
Readers’ letters on what 4.5 per cent unemployment really means; delay of the Nature Positive Bill; Reserve Bank independence; office party activities; and South Australia’s high-voltage lines.
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
End RBA scapegoating and come up with policy solutions
Readers’ letters on the Reserve Bank pile-on; supermarket “discounts”; a lost opportunity to protect the environment; support for the social media age ban; and rooftop solar.
October 2024
Let Nature Positive reforms die: WA premier
West Australian Premier Roger Cook says he would prefer to see the Albanese government’s Nature Positive reforms fail than be shaped by “poison” flowing through Canberra.
- Tom Rabe
‘Step up or get out’: Warning to green power developers
Rob Wheals said anti-renewables sentiment could reach a “tipping point” that stalls the transition unless developers do better on social licence.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith and Jenny Wiggins
Sydney ESG consultant EMM courts private equity; Moelis on tools
Street Talk can reveal EMM’s shareholders have mandated MA Moelis to seek a buyer for a 45 per cent stake in the business with guidance for $10 million-plus EBITDA.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
September 2024
- Explainer
- Tanya Plibersek
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.
- Tom Rabe
Albanese rejects Greens’ demands for a climate trigger
The prime minister has ruled out the minor party’s requests in return for legislative support, even though Tanya Plibersek says she is negotiating.
- Phillip Coorey
Labor bluffing over Greens EPA deal, Dutton tells miners
Peter Dutton says Labor will destroy its WA electoral prospects if it deals with the Greens on the EPA legislation.
- Phillip Coorey
August 2024
- Exclusive
- Tanya Plibersek
‘Circular economy’ to be examined by Productivity Commission
The government has asked its economic adviser to explore ways to cut waste going to landfill and encourage the more efficient use of raw materials.
- James Eyers
Regis in $192m writedown after Plibersek call sinks gold mine
Regis Resources slashes value of NSW mining project and withdraws ore reserve in fallout from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s intervention.
- Brad Thompson
July 2024
- Exclusive
- Emissions
NSW coal power stations put on notice over CO₂ limits
The new licence conditions come amid a resurgence in coal power generation in the state and across the National Electricity Market in the June quarter.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
May 2024
Dutton vows to cut mining approval times, open gas fields
Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton is in Perth to win back support from the WA mining industry, promising to cut approval times for new projects.
- Tom Rabe
April 2024
Environment revamp on hold after WA alarm
The Albanese government has delayed indefinitely the overhaul of laws designed to protect the environment after lobbying from WA Premier Roger Cook.
- Phillip Coorey and Tom Rabe
- Exclusive
- Mining
Internal Labor group chides Plibersek on nature-positive ‘vacuum’
A Labor green group says reforms to environmental laws are an Albanese “election commitment” on an issue Labor members have campaigned for nearly a decade.
- Jacob Greber and Tom Rabe
March 2024
Rinehart boss blasts Labor’s ‘nature-positive’ agenda
Gina Rinehart’s business empire has hit out over what it argues are flawed plans to rewrite national environmental laws.
- Brad Thompson
- Opinion
- Business Summit
Labor is modernising the economy
The Albanese government will make our economy more productive by easing compliance costs on business where we can, we will abolish hundreds of nuisance tariffs.
- Jim Chalmers
Forrests lash Europe’s labour law climbdown
Germany and Italy kiboshed an EU law that would compel firms to weed out forced labour in their supply chains. The Forrests fear a ripple effect in Australia.
- Hans van Leeuwen
February 2024
Probe ordered into gas project confected evidence claim
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has told her department to investigate whether the EDO is meeting an agreement for federal grant money.
- Tracey Ferrier
Ocean-floor minerals are being touted as the next frontier
A new kind of 21st-century mining company is emerging: the for-profit corporation as self-declared climate saviour.
- Christopher Pollon