More heads tipped to roll as police investigate inquiry report into Fiji anti-corruption commissioner
Landowners in PNG's New Ireland Province want the Prime Minister to cancel deep sea leases.
More job losses expected as as police investigate inquiry report into anti-corruption commissioner.
Fears climate change is exacerbating certain social issues including gender based violence in Timor Leste.
Vanuatu's football Women's Development Officer strives to revive the women's league in Port Vila amid a tirade of social media abuse.
An Australian inquiry into modern slavery hears of migrant workers living in unliveable accommodation.
And aspiring and published Pacific and First Nations authors descend on Townsville in North Queensland for an annual writers festival.
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News.com.au
10 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Lunatic policy of Net Zero': Barnaby Joyce puts UN on blast in New England snow rant
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has used a snow event in his electorate of New England to push his campaign against Australia's 'lunatic policy of net zero'. Mr Joyce, on Saturday, published a video on social media as thick snow fell on the town of Bendemeer. 'A day like today, I don't know which one is more ridiculous: [UN Secretary-General] Antonio Guterres talking about global boiling, or [Tim Flannery] – the river's in flood – saying, it's not gonna rain anymore,' he said in a video on his Facebook page. 'What's sad about this really is there's people in this little village I'm in, Bendemeer, who can't afford to keep warm because we've got this lunatic policy of net zero where apparently we're going to make it snow even more.' 'We're not doing anything, all we're doing is being completely cruel and hurting people.' Mr Joyce introduced a private member's bill in parliament's opening days hoping to repeal Australia's net zero commitment. Australia's current pledge is to cut emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030. The Climate Change Authority (CCA) is reportedly weighing up whether to recommend a more aggressive target of 65 to 75 per cent by 2035. Mr Joyce's chief gripe with the policy in recent weeks lies with what he sees as an unfair burden on regional Australia. His 'Repeal Net Zero' bill, backed by several Coalition rebels, proposes scrapping Australia's carbon-neutral target by 2050, a goal in line with most other developed nations. 'There's absolutely no reason that Mascot Airport can't work 24/7,' he previously told reporters. 'But we understand that people don't want planes flying over themselves in the middle of the night … but we don't want transmission lines over our head either. We don't want wind towers either, so there's got to be a form of quid pro quo.' His argument suggests city-dwellers are demanding action on climate change without shouldering its costs, leaving regional communities to deal with some sort of flow-on infrastructure burden. 'You don't feel virtuous if you're hurting people,' Mr Joyce said. While the bill is unlikely to pass without support from Liberal moderates, Mr Joyce's position is influential within the Nationals and perhaps reflects a growing pushback on climate policy from prominent sections of the Coalition. Joining him outside Parliament House were fellow Nationals MP Michael McCormack and Liberal MP Garth Hamilton, the only member of the senior Coalition partner to back the bill publicly. Mr Joyce's foray on the Bendemeer snow is in stark contrast to warnings by the UN's top climate executive, who said fruit and vegetables may become a 'once-a-year treat' if the country fails to drastically lift its clean energy ambitions. UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said Australia faced a future of 'mega-droughts', plummeting living standards and eye-watering economic losses if it does not go much further on emissions cuts. 'Mega-droughts [will make] fresh fruit and veg a once-a-year treat. In total, the country could face a $6.8 trillion GDP loss by 2050,' Mr Stiell said during an address hosted by the Smart Energy Council, per The Australian. Mr Stiell, who met with Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen in Canberra this week, said setting an ambitious target wasn't just about the environment, but rather economic survival. 'Australia has a strong economy and among the highest living standards in the world. If you want to keep them, doubling down on clean energy is an economic no-brainer,' he warned. 'Living standards could drop by over $7000 per person per year. And rising seas, resource pressures, and extreme weather would destabilise Australia's neighbourhood – from Pacific Island nations to Southeast Asia – threatening your security.' New England residents are warned this weekend of some of the biggest snowfalls across the region in 20 years. Emergency services say unusual snow levels were reported at Armidale and Guyra, where falls of up to 50cm were forecast. The SES said on Saturday snowfall in the Northern Tablelands had never been seen at these depths before, which left up to 200 vehicles stuck in heavy snowfall. Snow in Bendemeer, located at around 800m elevation, is extremely rare and is usually very light when it does occur.
ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
NSW farmers fear job cuts at DPIRD could leave them open to biosecurity threats
Farmers fear proposed cuts to research and development roles at the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) could leave the state vulnerable to biosecurity and climate threats. The NSW government on Tuesday announced plans to cut 165 jobs from the department, equating to a 4 per cent reduction in staff. The Public Service Association (PSA) told the ABC 55 of those jobs would be from the DPIRD's agriculture and biosecurity teams. Farmers in the north of the state are concerned the cuts will leave the agriculture industry open to biosecurity threats at a state and federal level. Toorooka cattle farmer David Duff pointed to biosecurity issues producers were already facing. "We've had varroa mite, we've had tropical soda apple and we've got red fire ants that are on the march over the border down into New South Wales," he said. "If you haven't got the staff on the ground to be able to implement biosecurity measures when we have outbreaks of whatever it is, the consequences to primary industry production are massive, and then to the country." Mr Duff said safeguarding the agriculture industry needed to be a priority. Moree-based NSW Farmers Association vice president Rebecca Reardon said the job cuts were a "short-sighted" move and fewer boots on the ground could be "devastating" for biosecurity in the state. "We've got so many challenges in agriculture — around climate change, input costs, biosecurity threats, pressure to decrease emissions, productivity issues — that to cut back on research when we're aiming to be a $30 billion output industry just seems very short-sighted on the government's part," Ms Reardon said. She said with threats such as lumpy skin disease and mad cow disease "on the back doorstep," maintaining strong biosecurity was vital. "Any savings they make by cutting staff and those on the ground, well they'll be blown out of the water if we have one of these incursions," Ms Reardon said. DPIRD secretary Steve Orr previously told the ABC the job cuts were set to affect roles that were made permanent despite only having temporary funding, back office administrative roles and duplicate management positions across several divisions. He said there would not be an impact on frontline services offered by the department. The Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute, which tests soil and water quality following floods and fires, will be significantly impacted by the cuts. The PSA said all 12 to 13 jobs at the institute's environmental lab would be lost. Earlier this week, a DPIRD spokesperson said there would be no changes to its office locations and all impacted staff would have the opportunity to be redeployed across the department or other parts of the NSW public service. The union said the planned relocation of the environment lab, from northern NSW to Wagga Wagga in the state's south-west, would complicate the redeployment of its staff. Greens MP and rice farmer Sue Higginson said she had seen firsthand the research and development work conducted at the site. "We can't afford any job losses in our region right now, particularly ones that are doing this kind of deeper scientific research about how to build our resilience, how to understand our changing climate and how we adapt," she said. The ABC has contacted the NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty and Lismore MP Janelle Saffin for comment. Mr Orr was also contacted for further comment.
ABC News
4 days ago
- ABC News
Tax fossil fuel exports or risk losing revenue to other nations, says Zali Steggall
Climate change has been left on the sidelines of the government's upcoming productivity roundtable, Zali Steggall warns, as she pitches a proposal to ensure Australia collects on fossil fuel exports rather than foreign nations. The federal government is hosting the event in search of new solutions to overcome Australia's falling productivity, which risks limiting incomes and the overall quality of life for Australians. Ms Steggall said climate change was already hurting the economy and weighing on the federal budget, pointing to record-breaking floods in NSW and Queensland earlier this year and the ongoing algal bloom in South Australia, killing marine life in the thousands. "I have been discussing with a number of ministers the need for climate resilience to be at that roundtable, there is no productivity without resilience," Ms Steggall said. "Let's be really clear, as soon as climate risk hits, productivity is down to zero. You can't really talk about a strong future Australian economy without the resilience piece underpinning everything." Ms Steggall said a $10 billion climate resilience fund that could invest in infrastructure to mitigate the impact of climate disasters would help to limit local economies from grinding to a halt when disasters struck. Her pitch follows a visit to parliament by the United Nations' chief climate diplomat, Simon Stiell, who warned climate disasters were already costing Australian home owners $4 billion a year, but that Australia could reap "colossal" rewards by embracing clean energy. One of the key measures Ms Steggall proposes is for Australia to get the jump on collecting revenue from an emissions price on exported fossil fuel prices, instead of that being collected by a foreign nation. She said the revenue from that could help to pay for the proposed resilience fund without burdening taxpayers. Known as 'carbon border adjustment mechanisms', several nations, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, are moving to establish levies at the border on polluting imports, priced based on the emissions intensity of those products. But those levies only collect where emissions have not been priced in earlier in the supply chain. While Australia's 'safeguard mechanism' requires the biggest polluting industries to progressively cut their direct emissions over time, and penalises them for each gram of emissions over a set amount, it does not apply to emissions resulting from products exported for consumption overseas, exposing those goods to possible levies imposed by foreign nations. Ms Steggall said that rather than emissions price revenue being collected overseas, Australia should introduce its own fossil fuel export levy, set at the same effective emissions price as the safeguard mechanism, so that revenue was not lost. "The EU's is due to come into effect in 2026, other jurisdictions in 2027, so it's not like this is something that's not happening around the world … we don't have the luxury of time," Ms Steggall said. In exchange, the Sydney MP proposes Australia should also introduce its own levy at the border to level the playing field for domestic industries, so they are not having to unfairly compete with imported products that do not have to pay an emissions price. Australian National University economist Emma Aisbett, who helped to develop Ms Steggall's pitch, said the mechanisms could help to drive new clean industries. "The whole point is Australia has a huge opportunity to grow industries that we have struggled with traditionally, like steel, because we can make clean and green steel," Dr Aisbett said. "Australia, despite being the world's biggest iron ore exporter, actually imports all of its steel … it's really about enabling an environment for growing those clean industries." A government-commissioned review investigating the feasibility of a carbon border adjustment mechanism, particularly concerning steel and cement, is due to be handed to the government later this year. Dr Aisbett said, unlike market-distorting tariffs, a carbon border adjustment was designed to make it fair for those already paying a carbon price domestically, with those importing products into the country. Federal and state governments have committed billions of dollars collectively to incentivise home owners to take up more energy-efficient products, rooftop solar, and batteries — including federal Labor's election promise to establish a $3 billion subsidy to household batteries. But Ms Steggall said there were opportunities for the government to change rules that were causing roadblocks for renters, landlords, apartment owners, and strata companies who want to adopt renewable and energy-efficient technologies. As an example, she said exemptions for stratas in the government's battery subsidy scheme were limiting opportunities to make apartments more efficient. "We need to look at some of the regulatory roadblocks — it's not just about subsidies, it is sometimes that the regulations don't permit," Ms Steggall said. "It seems counterproductive. There is still a process of picking winners and losers." She said the National Construction Code should also be updated so that new builds were made energy efficient and resilient to climate change. Ms Steggall also suggested tax breaks, such as negative gearing, could be limited where rental properties did not meet minimum energy standards — using an already existing subsidy to drive an outcome desired by the government. Ms Steggall's proposals will be submitted alongside a raft of ideas from industry, unions, community groups, and other politicians to next month's roundtable. She hoped the government, with its massive majority in parliament, would consider the opportunity it has to do more than just tinker around the edges. But Ms Steggall also joined several other voices who have expressed skepticism over whether the government was entering the event with a pre-determined plan already in mind. "I hope this is not a situation where they have got a policy setting they want to go in and they're reverse-engineering a roundtable to suit their purposes," she said. "I certainly hope the treasurer and the prime minister look at this term of government with their big majority to genuinely be change makers."
