Labor declines to review three coal proposals for potential climate impact – as it happened
Key events
What we learned: Wednesday, 4 December
With that, we will wrap the blog for the day. Enjoy your evenings, whether it be spent watching the Matildas take on Taiwan or anxiously reading our blog on the South Korea crisis.
Here were today’s major developments:
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Australia’s economy put in a disappointing performance in the September quarter. Excluding the Covid disruptions, the annual growth pace of 0.8% was the weakest since the early 1990s recession, according to Westpac. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said “the growth in the Australian economy continues to be positive but it is weak”.
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Commonwealth Bank has conceded it did a “poor job” communicating changes to affected customers, after announcing a partial backdown over its plans to start charging users of one of its popular accounts a $3 fee for accessing money from a branch.
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The Greens plan to call Murdoch media executives before a Senate inquiry into greenwashing, after paid advertising from the gas lobby appeared as straight news coverage across Murdoch tabloids.
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They have also announced a new election policy to provide women with free access to contraceptives.
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The high court has ruled that aggregate sentences do count towards automatic visa cancellation on character grounds, reversing a full federal court decision that resulted in the release of more than 100 people from immigration detention in December 2022.
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And Australia has voted with 156 other countries at the United Nations to demand the end of Israel’s “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible”, marking a return to the position for the first time in more than two decades.
Albanese government declines to review three coal proposals for potential climate impact
Lisa Cox
Three proposed coalmine projects will remain under assessment for potential approval after the federal government declined to review them for their potential climate impacts.
The three projects are Idemitsu’s Boggabri coal project in NSW, BHP Mitsubishi’s Caval Ridge coal project in central Queensland and Jellinbah Group’s Lake Vermont coal project in Queensland.
The legal firm Environmental Justice Australia said the mines would result in about 850 million tonnes in greenhouse emissions.
The three mines were part of a larger bid – known as the Living Wonders case – by the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ) to have the government reconsider 19 projects because of the climate damage they would cause.
The group also ran a series of landmark court cases in which it argued, unsuccessfully, that the minister for the environment was required to consider the lasting climate damage that two different coalmine expansions would cause.
Environmental Council of Central Queensland spokesperson Ellie Smith said:
This is another blow from the Albanese government, which came to power promising to protect the environment but keeps approving carbon bombs that will supercharge climate change.
Environmental Justice Australia senior specialist lawyer Retta Berryman, said:
In refusing to change the risk assessment for these massive coalmine expansions, the Albanese government has failed to recognise their climate harms to thousands of animals, plants and places.
The peak body for the university sector has blamed a “handbrake on international education” sluggish economy growth figures released today.
According to the national accounts, the economy grew 0.3% in the September quarter and 0.8% annually – the weakest non-pandemic reading since the 1990s recession.
The ABS reported that education exports fell 9% in the September quarter compared with last year, dropping from $13.6bn to $12.4bn.
Universities Australia Ceo, Luke Sheehy:
Our economy is stuck in low gear and the handbrake on international education is a big reason for that.
International students drove half of Australia’s economic growth last year. It makes no sense to put a handbrake on a $50bn industry that fuels our economy, especially when other sectors are struggling.
The government has been using Ministerial Direction 107 to reduce international student numbers since last December and now we are seeing the damaging effects in the data – our outer suburban and regional unis are being hit the hardest.
At a time of growing budget pressures, we should be investing in our most successful sectors, not curtailing them.
Thunderstorm warning for parts of Queensland and NSW
Storms are continuing to hit parts of Queensland and New South Wales, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding is possible in some areas.
The BoM holds particular concern for parts of New South Wales, where “very dangerous thunderstorms” are projected to hit Armidale, Glen Innes, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Narrabri and Coonabarabran over the next several hours.
46mm of rain was recorded at Ogunbil (Amaroo) in the half hour to 4.49pm, while Meldrum recorded 44mm in the half hour to 2:44pm.
Ben Smee
Queensland energy companies’ price changes did not breach competition law, court finds
Queensland’s two state owned energy companies “hoped” to cause power price spikes during the summer by making late changes to power prices, but their strategies did not breach competition law, the federal court has found.
Justice Sarah Derrington published a judgement on Wednesday in a class action alleging the power companies – CS Energy and Stanwell – took advantage of their market power to prevent other power generators from competing with them.
The case scrutinised a practice known as “short notice rebidding”. It involved generators allegedly repricing electricity – at very high prices – that was previously offered to the market at much lower rates. The late timing of the pricing changes allegedly left other generators with little or no time to respond.
Justice Derrington found that traders at CS Energy and Stanwell had “hoped that they would be able to cause price spikes over the summer period in accordance with their respective strategies”.
In doing so they engaged in “profit-maximising behaviour” but did not unlawfully drive up prices.
The Greens have accused Labor of capitulating to big corporations after it neglected requests to consider the climate impacts of three proposed coal mining projects.
The ‘reconsideration requests’ were made by the Environment Council of Central Queensland, represented by lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia.
On Wednesday, it was revealed government had rejected the requests for Boggabri, Caval Ridge and Lake Vermont Meadowbrook. They now await a final decision by Labor without a prior assessment of their climate harm.
Leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, said Labor was “doing the bidding” of coal and gas corporations.
Emissions are higher under Anthony Albanese than Scott Morrison, Labor has approved 28 new coal and gas projects since coming to power, and the government has pushed setting 2035 climate targets back until after the next election.
Scientists say new coal and gas must be stopped to protect Australia from dangerous climate change. Pacific leaders are demanding Australia stop approving new coal and gas to give their islands a fighting chance.
Albanese and Tanya Plibersek must immediately reject these three new coal projects.
Man, 20, dies in WA after alleged break-in with machete
In Western Australia, a 20-year-old man has died after allegedly breaking into a Kalgoorlie-Boulder home armed with a machete, police have confirmed.
About 10.15am, police allege the man broke into a home on Kenneally Place armed with the weapon.
A man who was at home with his wife and child confronted the man and an altercation ensued, police allege.
The 20-year-old received serious injuries and was flown to Royal Perth hospital, where he later died.
The male occupant received serious injuries and was sent to Kalgoorlie Regional hospital.
This matter is currently still under investigation and a file is being prepared for the coroner. Guardian Australia understands the man was not in custody and was assisting police.
No charges have been laid.
Chalmers welcomes Commonwealth Bank’s change of heart on withdrawal fees
Finally, Chalmers was asked about changes announced by the Commonwealth Bank to impose $3 fees for many customers seeking cash withdrawals. The changes have since been wound back.
Jennett:
Are you open to having smart ATMs in the regions and a heavier reliance on Australia Post as an alternative to some of those levy proposals that you are working on?
Chalmers said he welcomed the Commonwealth Bank’s change of heart and had a conversation with CEO Matt Comyn about the issues.
To his credit and to the bank’s credit, they recognise that the changes which were flagged yesterday were neither acceptable nor appropriate … people were doing it tough enough as it is, particularly vulnerable people.
We welcome that change of heart. And again, we engage with the major financial institutions in a very respectable, productive and constructive way and that applies to our efforts as well to make sure Australians in regional communities get the kind of services that they need and deserve.
That’s an ongoing conversation with the banking sector to see what might be possible here … we have more work to do.
Chalmers says aim is to ‘get wages moving again’
Chalmers reiterated Labor’s aim was to “get wages moving again” – both the minimum wage and pay rises in industries dominated by the minimum.
Pointed to a $28m deficit for the current financial year, he said the deficit was “much smaller” than anticipated when Labor came to office.
How sustainable was continued wage growth?
Chalmers:
We’ve made progress in this year. We have delivered two surpluses in the first two years. We got the third deficit smaller and the direction of travel compared to what we inherited at the election has been a good one.
What we have been able to show from reprioritising in the budget is we can get wages moving again in the care economy and in industries dominated by women. That’s one of the reasons why the gender pay gap is the narrowest it’s ever been … we don’t think people on low incomes or in an industry dominated by women should carry the can for the fight against inflation.
Asked whether existing supports like energy bill relief would be extended, he said “I’m not making that argument today” and “it’s not something we’re proposing”.
Jim Chalmers: ‘the economy is very soft’
Chalmers was asked whether Labor’s economic settings could be both supportive and inflationary.
He replied the Reserve Bank governor had indicated the past two surpluses were helping to fight inflation.
We know from the Bureau of Statistics our cost-of-living relief is putting downward pressure on inflation, not upward pressure on inflation.
Those are important elements of our economic strategy, to roll out the cost of living relief in the most responsible way we can, to be part of the solution when it comes to inflation … while at the same time we protect jobs in our economy and make sure that we’re not ignoring these risks to growth.
When you have economic growth come in lower than what most economists were expecting and forecasting, it makes it more important than ever that, as we maintain the primary focus on inflation, we don’t ignore what’s happening in the economy more broadly and the economy is very soft.
Jim Chalmers is asked about ‘insipidly weak’ growth figures
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is appearing on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing now following those less-than-thrilling growth figures released today.
Presenter Greg Jennett did not mince his words:
By any measure, these growth figures today are insipidly weak … back at budget time, you had growth heading for 2% and still do on the books as we speak. How do you reconcile that?
Chalmers replied Labor had taken a “very balanced approach” with a primary focus on reducing inflation.
We got a lot of free advice at budget time [that] we should be slashing and burning in the budget and it would have sent the economy backwards at different points of this year.
So what we’ve done instead is taken a very balanced approach, and a primary focus on fighting inflation, but without ignoring these very substantial risks to growth.
In the last 18 months or so, three quarters of OECD economies have gone backwards. Our economy has continued to grow. It is ticking over but it’s ticking over very slowly.
