‘Talking sense': Hanson forces Coalition to show ‘true colours' on net zero
'She's talking sense,' Ms MacSween told Sky News host Rita Panahi.
'This is the point of difference, if Sussan Ley doesn't adopt the abandonment of net-zero, then she's lost a lot of people.
'Thanks to Pauline Hanson, who's making them show their true colours, and it's about time.'
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Sky News AU
4 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Sky News Contributor Louise Roberts says a pro Palestinian protest over the Sydney Harbour Bridge is madess
This Sunday a radical activist collective - the Palestine Action Group - wants to shut down the Sydney Harbour Bridge to stage a pro-Palestinian protest. NSW Premier Chris Minns says he will not allow our steel and granite symbol of unity and resilience to be closed 'under any circumstances'. Good. Let's be clear: no one is denying the right to protest and no one wants innocent civilians in Gaza starving to death. Yes, the suffering we are witnessing from the safety of Australia is undeniable and to wholesale blame Israel for this is appalling when Hamas has the region in its cruel, iron grip. Hijacking the Harbour Bridge to stage a global political spectacle from Sydney is not peaceful protest. It is theatrics disguised as justice. Mr Minns and NSW Police have said they would support the protest if it is held at another location or time. The Palestine Action Group, I would argue, is not purely a group calling for peace and critical help for perishing and injured citizens in the Middle East. To be blunt, some of them include people who, since the October 7 2023 Hamas terrorist slaughter, have waved flags for a cause that routinely veers into anti-Semitic slogans and chants for Israel to be wiped off the map. When organisers like Josh Lees claim the Australian government is 'enabling genocide' through arms exports, the focus shifts dramatically. Is this truly a call for humanitarian aid or has the march became a political battering ram aimed at Canberra? NSW Police, under Deputy Commissioner Thurtell, have shown remarkable restraint. They have enabled more than 100 pro-Palestine demonstrations since the horrors of October 7, despite the appalling aftermath of the protest on the Opera House steps. That is not police obstruction. It is operational goodwill. Organisers point to past closures of the bridge, such as for a Ryan Gosling film and World Pride, but those events were widely supported and carefully planned. Mr Minns is treading a fine line between recognising public sentiment and upholding civic order. Meanwhile across the border in Victoria, it's the same story. No surprise. Pro-Palestine protesters are planning to block Melbourne's King Street Bridge this weekend despite warnings from police. Hundreds of officers will be redeployed to manage this event which will drag resources away from crime, emergencies and actual policing duties. What has become clear is this: the bridge protests aren't about peace or humanitarian concern. They are about headlines and optics. 'Block the City for Gaza' reads the posters. Not help Gaza. All of this is unfolding as Australia moves closer to recognising a Palestinian state, with suggestions that the Albanese government likely to join the UK, France and Canada in supporting the move as part of efforts toward a two-state solution. This is despite fears, led by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, that this decision would fuel Hamas. Respected Jewish leader Mark Leibler this week reminded Mr Albanese of his own conditions on this very issue: no recognition until Hamas is disarmed and the hostages are freed. Neither has happened. In an interview with The Australian, Mr Leibler's warning couldn't be clearer - premature recognition punishes the innocent and rewards terror. Israeli hostages will still be underground, Palestinian civilians will still be suffering and meanwhile Hamas is emboldened by every Western government desperate to look progressive. Social media messages this week ahead of the march from The Palestine Action Group include this: 'In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians.' And this: 'Chris Minns: get out of the way we're stopping a genocide'. Plus more: 'The bridge is really important. The Zionists are comfortable in the city, with enormous power over media and institutions. A big march on the bridge will make them uncomfortable, will hit back.' 'See you there!' 'The cops can't arrest all of us even if it doesn't win in court.' 'Where can I get a Palestinian flag?" And so on. No mention of the mother and baby butchers and rapists of Hamas, then. It is always what evil Israel 'is doing'. Fighting the police decision in NSW's Supreme Court is not about protesting. It is about power. And they want to see if they can take it from us. And the Premier, under fire for his handling of the situation, has been more than reasonable. One MP even accused him of caring more about 'traffic flow than starving children.' Protest isn't a free pass. It doesn't allow you to bring national infrastructure to a halt just because you are passionate about a cause.
The Advertiser
5 hours ago
- The Advertiser
This carbon policy has been a spectacular failure. Let's put this zombie in the ground for good
Like a reanimated corpse from The Walking Dead, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the boondoggle "technology" that just wont die. As a way for governments to piss public money up the wall, CCS is incredibly effective. On almost every other front, its a spectacular failure. But apparently, Australia is set to be the "sequestration nation". Huzzah! In a perpetual triumph of hope of experience, Resources Minister Madeline King launched a new report on the "economic potential" of CCS this week from Low Emission Technology Australia. A fully networked CCS industry along the east coast could increase economic activity by tens of billions of dollars, according to the best-case scenario outlined in the report summary. The rhetoric is polished; the facts are not. Commercial-scale carbon capture and storage is like teleportation, a nice idea, but a total fantasy. Its perpetually 10 years away from fruition. Lets begin with Australias track record. I am old enough to remember when the coal industry promised commercial-scale CCS would be "bolted on" to our coal-fired power station fleet by 2015 at the latest. What a joke. Australias biggest CCS project is Chevrons Gorgon facility off the WA coast. Derived from the Greek word Gorgos, meaning fierce, terrible and grim, Gorgon is aptly named. It was supposed to capture up to 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year. It has never come close. Its running at about one-third of its capacity and has missed every major milestone. Has any government demanded a refund? Cancelled their permits to operate, granted on the promise 80 per cent of its pollution would be buried? Of course not. Chevron continues to pollute and profit, while CCS somehow still gets spun as a climate solution. Then theres ZeroGena $4.3 billion flagship clean coal project that failed spectacularly, sequestered no carbon, and cost taxpayers more than $100 million. Gorgon and ZeroGen are not the exception. They are the rule. CCS is an abject failure by any measure. Despite this, CCS is being resurrected once again - not because it works, but because it serves a purpose. It gives the fossil fuel industry the social licence to expand. Take the Middle Arm project in Darwin. Sold as sustainable development, its actually a petrochemical hub, reliant on fracking the Beetaloo Basin, greenwashed with the promise of burying its emissions. Or consider Santos Barossa gas project, one of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel projects in Australias history and one of the dirtiest gas project in Australia. Governments arent just enabling this - theyre fast-tracking it. While essential environmental protections sit idle, the Albanese government prioritised legislation designed to help Santos bury its carbon abroad. Special special ''sea dumping" legislation allows it to offset pollution by piping it to Timor-Leste for burial. Once again, the public interest is playing second fiddle to fossil fuel profits. This is not a climate policy. Its a fossil fuel expansion plan with a CCS bow on top. The International Energy Agency and IPCC do mention CCS in some scenarios. But what they project is not a green light for governments to bet the house on unicorn technology. Rather, its a sober warning that if everything else fails - renewables, electrification, behaviour change - we might need some CCS. The path to net zero should not be built on desperation fallbacks and marketing strategies. And yet, here we are in 2025, still throwing public money and favourable legislation at a technology that has captured more political spin than carbon dioxide. Whats more, if CCS is so commercially viable, why does it always need billions in subsidies, bespoke legislation, and regulatory carve-outs to survive? Why does the fossil fuel industry only pursue it when it allows them to produce more fossil fuels? While we never seem to have enough money for things people need, like keeping the unemployed above the poverty line, or funding frontline domestic violence services, yet public funding for CCS seems to draw from the same bottomless bucket of money new submarines are funded from. The harsh truth is this: every dollar spent on CCS is a dollar not spent on proven climate solutions or on literally any other services or infrastructure we need. And we need to ask: if CCS was going to work, wouldnt it have done so by now? MORE EBONY BENNETT: Carbon capture and storage a proven failure economically and environmentally is still touted as some miracle solution. But what about what we know does work, and is available now? Are we at least investing in real solutions? Nope. Trees are still the cheapest most natural way to sequester carbon, yet native forest logging is still perfectly legal in some states. The NSW government has seen land-clearing jump by 40 per cent according to latest reports, and its long-promised Great Koala National Park is being logged instead of protected. So, we can all stop pretending governments are actually interested in sequestering carbon. The next decade is critical for climate action. We cant afford to waste it funding PR campaigns dressed up as policy. We already know the best and simplest way to reduce emissions is to stop approving massive expansion of Australias gas and coal industry, most of which is exported overseas. Australias fossil fuel exports are a huge source of pollution. But theyre also driving up the cost of living. Australia Institute research shows the massive expansion of gas exports on the east coast has tripled wholesale gas prices and doubled electricity prices. Stopping Australias massive gas and coal exports makes sense economically and environmentally. And theres no special legislation required. Australia doesnt need more magical thinking. We need policy integrity, political courage and practical solutions. End native forest logging. Stop approving new gas and coal projects. The government could do that starting today. Carbon capture and storage has had its chance and blew it. Twenty years, a billion dollars, and Australia has nothing to show for it. If the fossil fuel industry wants to waste more money on CCS, fine. But not a single cent more of public money need be wasted on this fantasy. Like a reanimated corpse from The Walking Dead, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the boondoggle "technology" that just wont die. As a way for governments to piss public money up the wall, CCS is incredibly effective. On almost every other front, its a spectacular failure. But apparently, Australia is set to be the "sequestration nation". Huzzah! In a perpetual triumph of hope of experience, Resources Minister Madeline King launched a new report on the "economic potential" of CCS this week from Low Emission Technology Australia. A fully networked CCS industry along the east coast could increase economic activity by tens of billions of dollars, according to the best-case scenario outlined in the report summary. The rhetoric is polished; the facts are not. Commercial-scale carbon capture and storage is like teleportation, a nice idea, but a total fantasy. Its perpetually 10 years away from fruition. Lets begin with Australias track record. I am old enough to remember when the coal industry promised commercial-scale CCS would be "bolted on" to our coal-fired power station fleet by 2015 at the latest. What a joke. Australias biggest CCS project is Chevrons Gorgon facility off the WA coast. Derived from the Greek word Gorgos, meaning fierce, terrible and grim, Gorgon is aptly named. It was supposed to capture up to 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year. It has never come close. Its running at about one-third of its capacity and has missed every major milestone. Has any government demanded a refund? Cancelled their permits to operate, granted on the promise 80 per cent of its pollution would be buried? Of course not. Chevron continues to pollute and profit, while CCS somehow still gets spun as a climate solution. Then theres ZeroGena $4.3 billion flagship clean coal project that failed spectacularly, sequestered no carbon, and cost taxpayers more than $100 million. Gorgon and ZeroGen are not the exception. They are the rule. CCS is an abject failure by any measure. Despite this, CCS is being resurrected once again - not because it works, but because it serves a purpose. It gives the fossil fuel industry the social licence to expand. Take the Middle Arm project in Darwin. Sold as sustainable development, its actually a petrochemical hub, reliant on fracking the Beetaloo Basin, greenwashed with the promise of burying its emissions. Or consider Santos Barossa gas project, one of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel projects in Australias history and one of the dirtiest gas project in Australia. Governments arent just enabling this - theyre fast-tracking it. While essential environmental protections sit idle, the Albanese government prioritised legislation designed to help Santos bury its carbon abroad. Special special ''sea dumping" legislation allows it to offset pollution by piping it to Timor-Leste for burial. Once again, the public interest is playing second fiddle to fossil fuel profits. This is not a climate policy. Its a fossil fuel expansion plan with a CCS bow on top. The International Energy Agency and IPCC do mention CCS in some scenarios. But what they project is not a green light for governments to bet the house on unicorn technology. Rather, its a sober warning that if everything else fails - renewables, electrification, behaviour change - we might need some CCS. The path to net zero should not be built on desperation fallbacks and marketing strategies. And yet, here we are in 2025, still throwing public money and favourable legislation at a technology that has captured more political spin than carbon dioxide. Whats more, if CCS is so commercially viable, why does it always need billions in subsidies, bespoke legislation, and regulatory carve-outs to survive? Why does the fossil fuel industry only pursue it when it allows them to produce more fossil fuels? While we never seem to have enough money for things people need, like keeping the unemployed above the poverty line, or funding frontline domestic violence services, yet public funding for CCS seems to draw from the same bottomless bucket of money new submarines are funded from. The harsh truth is this: every dollar spent on CCS is a dollar not spent on proven climate solutions or on literally any other services or infrastructure we need. And we need to ask: if CCS was going to work, wouldnt it have done so by now? MORE EBONY BENNETT: Carbon capture and storage a proven failure economically and environmentally is still touted as some miracle solution. But what about what we know does work, and is available now? Are we at least investing in real solutions? Nope. Trees are still the cheapest most natural way to sequester carbon, yet native forest logging is still perfectly legal in some states. The NSW government has seen land-clearing jump by 40 per cent according to latest reports, and its long-promised Great Koala National Park is being logged instead of protected. So, we can all stop pretending governments are actually interested in sequestering carbon. The next decade is critical for climate action. We cant afford to waste it funding PR campaigns dressed up as policy. We already know the best and simplest way to reduce emissions is to stop approving massive expansion of Australias gas and coal industry, most of which is exported overseas. Australias fossil fuel exports are a huge source of pollution. But theyre also driving up the cost of living. Australia Institute research shows the massive expansion of gas exports on the east coast has tripled wholesale gas prices and doubled electricity prices. Stopping Australias massive gas and coal exports makes sense economically and environmentally. And theres no special legislation required. Australia doesnt need more magical thinking. We need policy integrity, political courage and practical solutions. End native forest logging. Stop approving new gas and coal projects. The government could do that starting today. Carbon capture and storage has had its chance and blew it. Twenty years, a billion dollars, and Australia has nothing to show for it. If the fossil fuel industry wants to waste more money on CCS, fine. But not a single cent more of public money need be wasted on this fantasy. Like a reanimated corpse from The Walking Dead, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the boondoggle "technology" that just wont die. As a way for governments to piss public money up the wall, CCS is incredibly effective. On almost every other front, its a spectacular failure. But apparently, Australia is set to be the "sequestration nation". Huzzah! In a perpetual triumph of hope of experience, Resources Minister Madeline King launched a new report on the "economic potential" of CCS this week from Low Emission Technology Australia. A fully networked CCS industry along the east coast could increase economic activity by tens of billions of dollars, according to the best-case scenario outlined in the report summary. The rhetoric is polished; the facts are not. Commercial-scale carbon capture and storage is like teleportation, a nice idea, but a total fantasy. Its perpetually 10 years away from fruition. Lets begin with Australias track record. I am old enough to remember when the coal industry promised commercial-scale CCS would be "bolted on" to our coal-fired power station fleet by 2015 at the latest. What a joke. Australias biggest CCS project is Chevrons Gorgon facility off the WA coast. Derived from the Greek word Gorgos, meaning fierce, terrible and grim, Gorgon is aptly named. It was supposed to capture up to 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year. It has never come close. Its running at about one-third of its capacity and has missed every major milestone. Has any government demanded a refund? Cancelled their permits to operate, granted on the promise 80 per cent of its pollution would be buried? Of course not. Chevron continues to pollute and profit, while CCS somehow still gets spun as a climate solution. Then theres ZeroGena $4.3 billion flagship clean coal project that failed spectacularly, sequestered no carbon, and cost taxpayers more than $100 million. Gorgon and ZeroGen are not the exception. They are the rule. CCS is an abject failure by any measure. Despite this, CCS is being resurrected once again - not because it works, but because it serves a purpose. It gives the fossil fuel industry the social licence to expand. Take the Middle Arm project in Darwin. Sold as sustainable development, its actually a petrochemical hub, reliant on fracking the Beetaloo Basin, greenwashed with the promise of burying its emissions. Or consider Santos Barossa gas project, one of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel projects in Australias history and one of the dirtiest gas project in Australia. Governments arent just enabling this - theyre fast-tracking it. While essential environmental protections sit idle, the Albanese government prioritised legislation designed to help Santos bury its carbon abroad. Special special ''sea dumping" legislation allows it to offset pollution by piping it to Timor-Leste for burial. Once again, the public interest is playing second fiddle to fossil fuel profits. This is not a climate policy. Its a fossil fuel expansion plan with a CCS bow on top. The International Energy Agency and IPCC do mention CCS in some scenarios. But what they project is not a green light for governments to bet the house on unicorn technology. Rather, its a sober warning that if everything else fails - renewables, electrification, behaviour change - we might need some CCS. The path to net zero should not be built on desperation fallbacks and marketing strategies. And yet, here we are in 2025, still throwing public money and favourable legislation at a technology that has captured more political spin than carbon dioxide. Whats more, if CCS is so commercially viable, why does it always need billions in subsidies, bespoke legislation, and regulatory carve-outs to survive? Why does the fossil fuel industry only pursue it when it allows them to produce more fossil fuels? While we never seem to have enough money for things people need, like keeping the unemployed above the poverty line, or funding frontline domestic violence services, yet public funding for CCS seems to draw from the same bottomless bucket of money new submarines are funded from. The harsh truth is this: every dollar spent on CCS is a dollar not spent on proven climate solutions or on literally any other services or infrastructure we need. And we need to ask: if CCS was going to work, wouldnt it have done so by now? MORE EBONY BENNETT: Carbon capture and storage a proven failure economically and environmentally is still touted as some miracle solution. But what about what we know does work, and is available now? Are we at least investing in real solutions? Nope. Trees are still the cheapest most natural way to sequester carbon, yet native forest logging is still perfectly legal in some states. The NSW government has seen land-clearing jump by 40 per cent according to latest reports, and its long-promised Great Koala National Park is being logged instead of protected. So, we can all stop pretending governments are actually interested in sequestering carbon. The next decade is critical for climate action. We cant afford to waste it funding PR campaigns dressed up as policy. We already know the best and simplest way to reduce emissions is to stop approving massive expansion of Australias gas and coal industry, most of which is exported overseas. Australias fossil fuel exports are a huge source of pollution. But theyre also driving up the cost of living. Australia Institute research shows the massive expansion of gas exports on the east coast has tripled wholesale gas prices and doubled electricity prices. Stopping Australias massive gas and coal exports makes sense economically and environmentally. And theres no special legislation required. Australia doesnt need more magical thinking. We need policy integrity, political courage and practical solutions. End native forest logging. Stop approving new gas and coal projects. The government could do that starting today. Carbon capture and storage has had its chance and blew it. Twenty years, a billion dollars, and Australia has nothing to show for it. If the fossil fuel industry wants to waste more money on CCS, fine. But not a single cent more of public money need be wasted on this fantasy. Like a reanimated corpse from The Walking Dead, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the boondoggle "technology" that just wont die. As a way for governments to piss public money up the wall, CCS is incredibly effective. On almost every other front, its a spectacular failure. But apparently, Australia is set to be the "sequestration nation". Huzzah! In a perpetual triumph of hope of experience, Resources Minister Madeline King launched a new report on the "economic potential" of CCS this week from Low Emission Technology Australia. A fully networked CCS industry along the east coast could increase economic activity by tens of billions of dollars, according to the best-case scenario outlined in the report summary. The rhetoric is polished; the facts are not. Commercial-scale carbon capture and storage is like teleportation, a nice idea, but a total fantasy. Its perpetually 10 years away from fruition. Lets begin with Australias track record. I am old enough to remember when the coal industry promised commercial-scale CCS would be "bolted on" to our coal-fired power station fleet by 2015 at the latest. What a joke. Australias biggest CCS project is Chevrons Gorgon facility off the WA coast. Derived from the Greek word Gorgos, meaning fierce, terrible and grim, Gorgon is aptly named. It was supposed to capture up to 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year. It has never come close. Its running at about one-third of its capacity and has missed every major milestone. Has any government demanded a refund? Cancelled their permits to operate, granted on the promise 80 per cent of its pollution would be buried? Of course not. Chevron continues to pollute and profit, while CCS somehow still gets spun as a climate solution. Then theres ZeroGena $4.3 billion flagship clean coal project that failed spectacularly, sequestered no carbon, and cost taxpayers more than $100 million. Gorgon and ZeroGen are not the exception. They are the rule. CCS is an abject failure by any measure. Despite this, CCS is being resurrected once again - not because it works, but because it serves a purpose. It gives the fossil fuel industry the social licence to expand. Take the Middle Arm project in Darwin. Sold as sustainable development, its actually a petrochemical hub, reliant on fracking the Beetaloo Basin, greenwashed with the promise of burying its emissions. Or consider Santos Barossa gas project, one of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel projects in Australias history and one of the dirtiest gas project in Australia. Governments arent just enabling this - theyre fast-tracking it. While essential environmental protections sit idle, the Albanese government prioritised legislation designed to help Santos bury its carbon abroad. Special special ''sea dumping" legislation allows it to offset pollution by piping it to Timor-Leste for burial. Once again, the public interest is playing second fiddle to fossil fuel profits. This is not a climate policy. Its a fossil fuel expansion plan with a CCS bow on top. The International Energy Agency and IPCC do mention CCS in some scenarios. But what they project is not a green light for governments to bet the house on unicorn technology. Rather, its a sober warning that if everything else fails - renewables, electrification, behaviour change - we might need some CCS. The path to net zero should not be built on desperation fallbacks and marketing strategies. And yet, here we are in 2025, still throwing public money and favourable legislation at a technology that has captured more political spin than carbon dioxide. Whats more, if CCS is so commercially viable, why does it always need billions in subsidies, bespoke legislation, and regulatory carve-outs to survive? Why does the fossil fuel industry only pursue it when it allows them to produce more fossil fuels? While we never seem to have enough money for things people need, like keeping the unemployed above the poverty line, or funding frontline domestic violence services, yet public funding for CCS seems to draw from the same bottomless bucket of money new submarines are funded from. The harsh truth is this: every dollar spent on CCS is a dollar not spent on proven climate solutions or on literally any other services or infrastructure we need. And we need to ask: if CCS was going to work, wouldnt it have done so by now? MORE EBONY BENNETT: Carbon capture and storage a proven failure economically and environmentally is still touted as some miracle solution. But what about what we know does work, and is available now? Are we at least investing in real solutions? Nope. Trees are still the cheapest most natural way to sequester carbon, yet native forest logging is still perfectly legal in some states. The NSW government has seen land-clearing jump by 40 per cent according to latest reports, and its long-promised Great Koala National Park is being logged instead of protected. So, we can all stop pretending governments are actually interested in sequestering carbon. The next decade is critical for climate action. We cant afford to waste it funding PR campaigns dressed up as policy. We already know the best and simplest way to reduce emissions is to stop approving massive expansion of Australias gas and coal industry, most of which is exported overseas. Australias fossil fuel exports are a huge source of pollution. But theyre also driving up the cost of living. Australia Institute research shows the massive expansion of gas exports on the east coast has tripled wholesale gas prices and doubled electricity prices. Stopping Australias massive gas and coal exports makes sense economically and environmentally. And theres no special legislation required. Australia doesnt need more magical thinking. We need policy integrity, political courage and practical solutions. End native forest logging. Stop approving new gas and coal projects. The government could do that starting today. Carbon capture and storage has had its chance and blew it. Twenty years, a billion dollars, and Australia has nothing to show for it. If the fossil fuel industry wants to waste more money on CCS, fine. But not a single cent more of public money need be wasted on this fantasy.
Sky News AU
5 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to focus on economics at Garma Festival in NT
Economic development will be the focus for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at this weekend's Garma Festival in the Northern Territory. It will be Albanese's fourth trip to the Garma Festival since he became prime minister, and it's the place where he launched the campaign for a referendum on an indigenous voice to parliament. Mr Albanese will speak on Saturday and will announce a new economic partnership between the government and the Coalition of Aboriginal Peaks.
