News Analysis Chinese authorities ended an unofficial ban on Australian coal import earlier this year, but Australia’s recent efforts to strengthen its defense force angered China’s communist leaders. The U.S. State Department on March 16 approved a possible Foreign Military Sale of up to 220 Tomahawk cruise missiles to Australia. This approval came just three…

Australia’s supply of critical minerals to India will be a key aspect of realising the “enormous” potential of the trade relationship between the two nations. Speaking from India, Resources Minister Madeleine King said the country of 1.4 billion people presented a “remarkable opportunity” for Australia, which could make use of its “natural endowment” to work…

Arrow Energy has been granted environmental approval to drill 55 coal seam gas wells near a site contaminated with benzene, naphthalene and cyanide in western Queensland. The project is an expansion of the Shell and PetroChina joint venture’s existing six-well facility at Hopeland near Chinchilla on the western Downs. The Department of Environment and Science (DES) says…

Commentary New South Wales (NSW) has introduced a reservation policy for coal. A certain portion of coal produced in the state will be required by law to be sold within the state. The policy will likely come into effect on the 1st of April, but that doesn’t mean it’s a joke. This is one more…

Dreams of creating an “Elysian fields of a renewable economy” have created a potential energy shortfall in New South Wales (NSW) which has forced the government to limit how much coal miners can send overseas, says leading miner Whitehaven Coal. The government is set to impose a quota on mining firms to reserve 10 percent of…

The federal minister for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen, has indicated the Australian government will be looking to the states to lower energy prices at the meeting with energy ministers in Canberra on Thursday. This comes as the federal government seeks to address the current skyrocketing price of electricity and gas, which has been…

Commentary On Nov. 25, the Land Court of Queensland rendered judgement in Waratah Coal Pty Ltd v Youth Verdict Ltd and blocked Waratah Coal’s thermal coal project on the grounds of climate change and human rights concerns. This 372-page judgement is important because it considers the alleged effects of the exportation of coal on climate change…

Australia has recorded its 13th consecutive accounts surplus in the June quarter on the back of a continued commodity boom, with the trade surplus hitting a record high $43.1 billion (US$29 billion). “The increase in the current account surplus was driven by higher commodity prices. Coal prices were elevated over the 2021-22 financial year, with…

Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will block a proposed thermal and coking coal mine over its “unacceptable impacts” on the Great Barrier Reef. The project is backed by billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer and is located in central Queensland—home to large coal-mining industry. “Based on the information available to me at this stage, I believe…

An analyst has warned that the push for net zero with existing renewables technologies by 2050 will break the energy market and lead to a stark increase in Australia’s energy price within a decade. It comes as Australia, and the world, continues to struggle with an energy crisis amid supply issues plaguing much of the…