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Hey Reader, in today's edition:
- The National Energy Analysis Centre opens
- Petroleum Resources Rent Tax is "taking the p*ss"
- EPBC reform more important than tax reform: Henry
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A real-time lab for a future economy
Director of the new National Energy Analysis Centre (NEAC) Dr Stephen Craig knows the transformation of the energy system and the broader quest for net zero will be ongoing for decades, touching every part of Australian society.
Designed to provide the insights that energy market planners and policymakers will need to inform action and reduce risk amid an unstoppable overhaul of the electricity grid, CSIRO will officially launch the centre on Thursday.
“I’m a renter so there’s not much I can do infrastructure-wise, but having input via NEAC will help governments and providers to consider the third of the population that is renting, as they develop policies and products.”
Heath Raftery
Renter and Living Lab participant, Hunter region, NSW Reconfiguring Australia’s interconnected, carbon-heavy energy flows to net zero in a few decades is an integrated systems challenge. Regional economic transitions, power system transformation, electrification and fuel switching cannot be considered in isolation. CSIRO’s Energy Director Dr Dietmar Tourbier said NEAC, as an independent, collaborative research centre, would help to accelerate and de-risk the energy transition.
It will combine real-world anonymised energy data from household and businesses with high-tech energy system modelling, analysis and visualisation tools.
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Does the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax add up?
The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) was designed by last-century tax boffins to be more efficient than royalties — and keep investors onside.
Fast forward almost 40 years and many voters want action on climate change, energy justice and affordability, while experts are questioning how a low-rent regime fits with the Future Gas Strategy and emissions reduction.
Senator David Pocock is among critics who accused the government of "taking the p*ss" and opting for the weakest "reform" option put forward by the Treasury.
Independent MP Zali Steggall says the levy remains unfit for purpose with fossil fuel lobbying and a broken tax system allowing multinationals to export billions of dollars worth of gas, while we pick up the climate tab. She has called for "sensible, overdue reforms" including:
- Reducing the PRRT deductions cap from 90% to 80%
- Removing the seven-year exemption period despite fears over “project economics”.
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Expert view
“The federal government’s PRRT is the price charged by the crown on behalf of all Australians for the right to develop and profit from offshore petroleum resources. As an effective rent on a resource, it is an often-criticised failure, despite several attempts at reform.
Initially imposed in 1988, the PRRT is levied at 40% of a company’s taxable profit. The theory, initially focused on oil and later expanded to gas, was to price the right to extract the resource at the value to the company. However, using profit as the relevant base opened the door to accounting practices that, while completely legal, meant that deductions could wipe out any PRRT payment. In the 2023 federal Budget papers is the telling note: “To date, not a single LNG project has paid any PRRT and many are not expected to pay significant amounts of PRRT until the 2030s.”
A rapid, climate-change-driven, global move away from gas could make this concern redundant. However, the government’s own gas strategy says gas is expected to remain an important source of energy through to 2050. That multi-decade timeframe demands a serious, fundamental review of an inadequate revenue-raising policy.”
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Tony Wood
Energy Program Senior Fellow, Grattan Institute
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Henry’s verdict on productivity
Rebooting reform of environment laws is more important than tax reform for boosting Australia’s flatlining productivity, former Treasury Secretary and hairy-nosed wombat champion Dr Ken Henry told the National Press Club in Canberra. (ABC) (News) (Sky)
“To put it bluntly, there is no chance of Australia meeting stated targets for net zero, renewable energy, critical minerals development, housing and transport infrastructure without very high-quality national laws that set clear environmental standards for major projects, a strong national decision maker respected by all parties, and significant improvement not only in Commonwealth environmental protection systems, but also in those of the States and territories.”
Ken Henry
Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation Chair He said a strong federal reform capability would be required to deliver other even more challenging economic reforms, and environmental law reform could provide the template.
“As Graeme Samuel found, the EPBC Act has done little more than record the degradation of the natural world, one project at a time. And without major reform, that is all it will ever do,” he said.
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Catch Up
Capital
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Iron ore and copper leader Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) reported a US$300 million hit from US tariffs on its Canadian aluminium in a Q2 update. Lithium demand remains strong driven by global electric vehicle sales which were up 29% year-on-year between April and May, and solid demand from stationary batteries, Rio said. However, the market remains oversupplied with the Mt Cattlin spodumene operation in Western Australia on care and maintenance since March.
Perth-based battery manufacturer Magellan Powertronics is raising $15 million to bankroll a larger and more automated facility in WA. (AFR)
 Projects
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Spanish renewables developer BlueFloat Energy cancelled its proposed $10 billion Gippsland Dawn project, sparking fresh concerns about Victoria’s energy security with the state still relying on coal-fired electricity.
“Yallourn is scheduled to close in 2028, and there are now no realistic plans in place to plug the gap that’s going to create in our energy market. If the lifespan of Yallourn needs to be extended, as is looking increasingly likely, it’s time for the Allan government to come clean. The Victorian public, and in particular the workers at Yallourn, have a right to know – even if the facts are inconvenient for the government. Any agreement struck between the government and power station operators should include significant consultation with affected workers, whose lives are set to be upended in as little as two years.”
Andy Smith
Mining and Energy Union Victorian District President
Meanwhile GHD was appointed to lead the Environmental Impact Assessment and Approvals process for Blue Mackerel, a 1GW offshore wind project proposed by Parkwind, part of JERA Nex, JERA’s renewable energy subsidiary. Blue Mackerel is a flagship project in Australia's first designated offshore wind zone, off the coast of Gippsland — a new industry that will be crucial for meeting the state’s clean energy targets.
Queensland will fast track a $1.23 billion graphite mine to service the nation’s first battery anode hub. Graphinex will develop a greenfield graphite mine at Croydon in northwest Queensland, as well as a processing plant in Townsville. (The Australian)
Policy
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The UK announced an expanded Contracts for Difference scheme, which is the main mechanism for securing clean energy projects across the country. The scheme, and its predecessor investment contracts, have delivered 10GW of clean energy capacity since 2015, with a further 23GW contracted to become operational by 2030. The changes made in time for the next round are designed to help more projects come online, and include:
- Increasing the length of contracts from 15 years to 20 years for offshore wind, and onshore wind and solar projects, with longer contract periods designed to provide greater project certainty for an industry facing global headwinds
- Allowing advanced fixed-bottom offshore wind projects to apply for a contract whilst awaiting full planning consent, which should accelerate delivery times for critical offshore wind projects and increase competition to deliver a better price for users
- Changing the way budgets are set and published by allowing the Energy Secretary to view developer bids ahead of setting the final budget for auction rounds.
New Zealand released a draft Fuel Security Plan focused on better resilience to global supply disruptions, domestic fuel infrastructure and emergency preparedness, development of low-carbon fuel alternatives, and managing fuel security during the transition to new energy technologies.
“As a small and remote island nation that imports nearly all of its liquid fuels, New Zealand is vulnerable to supply chain shocks beyond its borders … Fuel security is not just an energy issue — it’s an issue of economic and national resilience.”
Shane Jones
NZ Associate Energy Minister The European Commission is hoping to funnel billions more into energy infrastructure, including grid upgrades, battery storage and hydrogen infrastructure, as part of the EU’s next long-term budget. The Commission suggests earmarking €30 billion of its Connecting Europe Facility for energy infrastructure — up from €6 billion. (Politico)
Regulation
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The Australian Energy Regulator opened consultations on gas access arrangements with Australian Gas Networks (SA), APT Pipelines Amadeus Gas Pipeline (NT) and the ACT’s EvoEnergy, with feedback due by August 15 and draft decisions in November.
Any overseas transfer of key technologies for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries through trade, investment or technological cooperation will now require a license from the Chinese government. The move could make it harder for Chinese electric carmakers to set up factories overseas. (NYT)
Technology
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Matt Vitale, co-founder of popular equity crowdfunding platform Birchal, wants to solve Australia’s AI sovereignty challenge. He launched an enterprise AI platform called New Dialogue, positioning it as a practical middle ground between public black-box services such as OpenAI and costly bespoke builds, where organisations can deploy open-source large language models in their own secure environments. The launch coincided with heightened activity around AI regulation in Canberra. US-based OpenAI’s chief economist, Ronnie Chatterji, recently concluded a series of high-level government meetings as Australia considers its approach to data sovereignty and safe AI deployment.
“Many of the most important institutions in the country can’t — or shouldn’t -—use public AI tools. They need sovereign, explainable infrastructure they can actually control.”
Matt Vitale
Executive Director, New Dialogue
Climate
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The Greens demanded the federal government immediately release the final report of the National Climate Risk Assessment in the wake of the Pabai & Kabai v Commonwealth decision, where the Federal Court acknowledged the climate impacts facing Torres Strait Islander communities but found the government had no legal duty of care.
“With Parliament returning next week, our message to the government is simple: show us this report, and work with us on real, urgent climate action for current and future generations.”
Senator Steph Hodgins-May
Assistant Spokesperson for Climate Change and Energy,
People
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Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) chose “status quo” candidate local iron ore boss Simon Trott to replace Jakob Stausholm as CEO from August 25, who analysts say will pare back the iron ore and copper giant’s recent bet on lithium. Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart immediately told Trott to move Rio’s HQ to WA. (FT) (The West) (AFR)
Research
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The Jubilee Australia Research Centre, working with the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Fossil Free Japan Coalition, co-published part one of How to build a gas empire, which drills into the rationale of Australia’s gas trade with Japan and South Korea.
“The Australian government has repeated the line from politicians in Japan, that more Australian gas is required for Japan’s energy security. This is misleading, as Japan has more than what it needs for its domestic purposes, and is increasingly reselling their surplus gas. This isn’t about keeping Tokyo’s lights on, it’s about cementing corporate profits.”
James Sherley
Co-author and Climate Justice Campaigner at Jubilee Australia
Random
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Energy-hungry Bitcoin became the world’s fifth-largest asset by market cap and could climb as high as US$200,000 this year, while the more sustainable by design Cardano is also on a tear. (The Block) (AFR)
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What's On
July 17
Battery Recycling and Manufacturing Summit
NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe, Battery Stewardship Council CEO Libby Chaplin, CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist Manufacturing Dr Adam Best, and Ecocycle CEO Doug Rowe are among the speakers at this Sydney event.
July 17-18
Carbon Capture APAC Summit
Chevron General Manager of Energy Transition David Fallon, Beach Energy CEO Brett Woods, CarbonNet Project Director Jane Burton, Geoscience Director of Offshore Energy Systems Merrie-Ellen Gunning are among speakers at this event in Melbourne.
July 17-18
Australia Wind Energy 2025
VicGrid CEO Alistair Parker, Siemens Gamesa Global CEO Vinod Philip, New.E co-lead Clare Larkin-Sykes, RWE Renewables CEO Australia Daniel Belton, Engie AU Chief Renewables Officer Laura Caspari, ACCIONA Energía Australia MD Brett Wickham and CEFC Director, Investments, Nick Hawke are among the line-up at this Melbourne event.
July 17-18
Connecting Hydrogen
Federal Assistant Minister for Energy Josh Wilson, WA Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson, Chevron Australia GM Energy Transition David Fallon, ARENA Investment Director Alexandra McIntosh, Ampol CFO Greg Barnes, and Woodside Energy GM Carbon Capture and Storage Andrew Nicholls will speak at this event in Melbourne.
July 21
Safeguard Symposium
The Carbon Market Institute will host a discussion of market dynamics under the Safeguard Mechanism, finance and investment in ACCU supply, carbon price reform, and climate policy at this event in Sydney, which was rescheduled due to severe weather.
July 22
Smart Energy South Australia
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen will headline at the Smart Energy Council conference and expo in Adelaide.
July 29-30
Australian Clean Energy Summit (ACES) 2025
AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman, AEMC Chair Anna Collyer, Climate Change Authority Chair Matt Kean, AGL CEO Damien Nicks, Iberdrola Australia CEO Ross Rolfe and Squadron Energy CEO Rob Wheals are among the lineup at the Clean Energy Council’s flagship event in Sydney.
July 30
Australian Sustainable Finance Summit
Treasury Deputy Secretary Angelia Grant, Original Power Executive Director Karrina Nolan, and Australian Office of Financial Management CEO Anna Hughes are among the line-up at this Sydney event.
August 7-8
2025 ACCC/AER Regulatory Conference
Former chair of UK energy regulator Ofgem Professor Martin Cave, AEMC Commissioner Sally McMahon, Treasury Assistant Secretary - Competition Taskforce Anna Barker, Essential Services Commission Chair Gerard Brody, and Marinus Link Chair Sandra Gamble are among the speakers at this event in Brisbane.
August 14-15
First Nations Clean Energy Symposium
Government, industry, academics and regulators will join over 200 First Nations leaders from around Australia at this event on Kabi Kabi country (Sunshine Coast).
August 18
National Press Club
Productivity Commission Chair Danielle Wood will speak on the “Growth imperative: How to fix our productivity problem” at this event in Canberra.
August 26-27
Australian Renewable Heat Conference
Climate Change Authority Chair Matt Kean, ARENA investment manager Peter Haenke, and AGL sustainability expert Brendan Weinert will speak at this event in Sydney.
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