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Farmers ready to electrify
Beware the 'shysters'
UBS flags Eraring extension

‘Good policy is how you change the world’

A group of early adopters of agritech and renewable energy who call themselves the “quiet majority” gathered in Canberra for a sold-out Farming Forever National Summit, while others shouted on a nearby hill.

“Farmers are not the problem, we are the solution,” said Brett Hall, an Angus cattle farmer from the Derwent Valley in Tasmania and chair of the Farmers for Climate Action organisation whose members include more than 8,400 farmers and graziers.

Internationally renowned climate scientist Professor Mark Howden warned the world was already experiencing what the climate models had previously signalled for 2050. “We’ve got a lot of attention on emission reduction, as we should, but we’re seriously underinvesting in adaptation,” he said.

Queensland sheep, renewables and cattle farmer and former NFF President Brent Finlay said “good policy creates — hopefully — good politics.”

“It’s also the advocacy that you need to do to convince political parties, ministers, the general public that you have a policy that will actually help your sector and help your community to work on that. So good policy is how you change the world,” he said.

Fully electric New Zealand cherry farmer Mike Casey said one in five farmers across the ditch were “naysayers” but two-thirds were more than ready to electrify and understood the new revenue stream would keep them and their families on the farm.

“I have to thank you guys for subsidising batteries, because when I go talk to my energy minister, I can now point to Australia and the fact you’re installing 1000 batteries in homes a day.”

Mike Casey

Head of Rewiring Aotearoa

One of the biggest cheers from the floor on day one of the three-day conference came when a farmer from Kangaroo Valley asked how they could convert the Nationals, who “speak loudly on behalf of farmers and regional communities, and are a major problem”.

Victorian grain and livestock producer and National Farmers Federation (NFF) President David Jochinke said farmers needed to explain what agriculture could do to contribute to the energy transition and decarbonisation — and the sector’s limitations.

“We’re caught in a scenario that has never been more binary,” Jochinke said.

But renewables and land use, and how that’s balanced in Australia, can be done “quite comfortably” in the right settings, he said.

Expert view

"Instead of telling the National Party what they should be educated in, we should be coming up with setting the agenda and we should be the ones actually leading the way and not leaving it to them … To take us from a situation where we’re adversaries to how do we find a better pathway, it is, yes, about bringing people along but not expecting them to do it at lightning speed. I think half the challenge has been because we’ve got so many things happening in our rural landscape.

Money will solve a lot of problems but that doesn’t put a community back together.

The Australian Agriculture Sustainability Framework — that is the way that agriculture is going to tell its story. When we talk about net zero and ag, it’s in a lot of areas because of Scope 3, the fact that we’re reliant on machinery, it’s almost impossible for us to do it as a whole but there are definitely segments where we can push very hard and technology and opportunities will arise for us to close the gap as we go.

In the interim, we’ve got to be able to tell it to our customers, because it is something they are asking us constantly … We just need the RDCs (Research and Development Corporations), the different producer groups, to get on board and help develop these matrices and develop them as we go. That framework is really important and central to us telling that story of policies, and policy landing.”

David Jochinke
President, National Farmers' Federation

Beware the 'shysters'

Nearby, during debate on Barnaby Joyce’s private member’s bill to repeal net zero, former Nationals leader Michael McCormack read out letters from constituents who were worried about wind farms destroying agricultural land. He accused clean energy developers of turning former friends and neighbours against each other.

“They send out these shysters and they are buying one farmer off and not the farmer’s neighbour. They are making people who are generational friends, friends no longer,” McCormack, Member for Riverina, said. “This is not the regional Australia I know and love, these companies can quite frankly go to hell.”

As the Member for Newcastle, Labor’s Sharon Claydon said, Australians voted last May for action on climate change.

But debate on a doomed bill is a handy stunt — for both sides — to kick off each parliamentary week. Debate on net zero was adjourned for the next sitting in October.

Catch Up

Capital

BP’s Lightsource is in exclusive discussions with Macquarie-backed developer Aula Energy to offload its portfolio, months after an $800 million-plus deal to sell local renewable energy assets to a Chinese company came unstuck with the Foreign Investment Review Board. (AFR)

Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) is likely to keep coal-fired Eraring running until at least 2030 to safeguard energy security and reliability, according to UBS, given the slow pace of the clean energy transition. (AFR)

Documents obtained by the Environment Centre NT under Freedom of Information showed the Darwin LNG export hub has been leaking methane since it opened in 2006. NT regulators found out about the leak in 2020, just hours after signing off on a proposal to extend its operations until 2050. Regulators have said the leak is stable and poses no immediate threat to the public or environment. (ABC) (Bloomberg)

"Santos's failure to address the ongoing methane leaks at its Darwin facility may reflect that Santos has not set a specific methane abatement target, which is a departure from industry best practice. Investors in oil, gas and LNG companies face increasing risks from company methane emissions, including due to the use of inaccurate emission measurement techniques, the impact of future planned expansions and a lack of effective methane emission abatement activity.”

Josh Runciman

Lead Analyst, Australian Gas, IEEFA

Meanwhile Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and its private equity partner are close to completing due diligence on their $30bn bid for Santos (ASX: STO) as attention shifts to whether it can satisfy the Foreign Investment Review Board. (The Australian)

Projects

The Queensland Government has dumped plans for a 1200MW wind farm. The Forest Wind project was slated to build up to 226 wind turbines, as tall as 265 metres, across Queensland state-owned pine plantations in Gympie, Maryborough and the Fraser Coast. (ABC)

The Greens will use the Senate this week to order the production of relevant documents from regulators overseen by federal Ministers, given Santos and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) are alleged to have intentionally concealed the leak from the public to ensure it wouldn’t derail plans for an extension of Darwin LNG or approval for its Barossa project.

“Ministers Bowen, Ayres and King must also explain if they were aware of what their regulators knew. Their climate credentials are on the line.”

Larissa Waters

Australian Greens Leader Senator

Policy

An “independent, expert and long-term” analysis of the performance of the east coast gas market is in the works. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) said that the inaugural Wholesale gas market performance report, currently being prepared for publication in May 2026, will be its first broad-ranging assessment of the overall competitiveness and efficiency of the east coast wholesale gas markets, with a focus on markets facilitated by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been running an inquiry into gas markets since 2017, but after 25 interim reports perhaps it’s time to try a new perspective.

Separately, Resource Minister Madeleine King’s Gas Market review — a combined review of the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM), Gas Market Code, and Heads of Agreement with east coast LNG exporters — is due by December 2025.

Elsewhere, NZ ministers received the final report of their electricity market performance review but aren’t ready to say anything about it.

Regulation

AER released a batch of approved Legacy Meter Replacement Plans developed by distribution network companies to show how legacy meters will be replaced with smart meters by November 2030. Electricity retailers are responsible for arranging for the replacements, following the schedules in these plans.

Technology

Australian manufacturer Century Yuasa Batteries (CYB), a founding member of the Australian Energy Storage Council, announced partnership with Recycle Mate on lead-acid battery recycling that adds CYB’s national network of recycling centres into the Recycle Mate app and website.

Climate

The independent Climate Council said the Darwin “methane cover-up” showed gas companies could not be trusted to regulate their own climate pollution.

“Australia is already the world’s 12th largest methane polluter, and our coal and gas companies may be under-reporting their methane pollution by up to 60 percent. That means the scale of this problem is likely far worse than official figures show. The Australian Government has signed up to the Global Methane Pledge to slash global methane emissions by 30% by 2030. But a promise is not a plan. We need to adopt a measurable and accountable mechanism to drive genuine methane emissions reductions to 2035, and fulfill our commitments under the Global Methane Pledge.”

Professor Lesley Hughes

Climate Councillor

Greenpeace Australia Pacific said ConocoPhillips, which is currently test drilling for gas in the Otway Basin, can’t be trusted to operate in Victoria if it was party to the alleged cover-up.

People

The Group Head of Strategy & Transformation at ACCIONA's Australian Infrastructure business, civil engineer Gavin Reymond, was appointed Managing Director of ACCIONA Energiìa in Australia.

Research

International think tank Climate Analytics released its recommended climate targets for Australia, urging a 2035 emissions reduction target around 81% below 2005 levels.

"The world will be watching Australia's target as the government bids to co-host next year's climate talks with Pacific Island countries whose very existence is threatened by warming exceeding 1.5˚C.”

Bill Hare

Climate Analytics CEO and Senior Scientist

Random

More than 7,000 2025 variants of the Tesla Model Y have been recalled in Australia over a software fault that could injure drivers. (Guardian)

What's On

September 1-3
Farming Forever National Summit

Farmers for Climate Action CEO Natalie Collard, Rewiring Aeteroa CEO Mike Casey, NSW EnergyCo Chair Paul Binsted, ANU Director of the Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions Professor Mark Howden and NAB Chief Climate Officer Jacqui Fox will speak at this Farmers for Climate Action event in Canberra.

September 2
Bias in action

ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society Director Sara Bice, CEO of The Energy Charter Sabiene Heindl, Director of Partnerships and Engagement at Energy Estate Rosie King, and Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at Ark Energy Melissa Pisani will speak at this renewable energy engagement webinar.

September 2-4
14th World Chambers Congress

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, CEFC Chair Steven Skala and Yurringa Energy CEO Arron Wood are among the speakers at this Melbourne event.

September 3
The case for an Australian clean commodities trading initiative

UNSW Professor of International Political Economy Elizabeth Thurbon and Australian country head of GAW Capital Oliver Yates will speak at this Curtin Institute for Energy Transition webinar.

September 3
RE-Alliance Regional Leaders Summit outcomes

RE-Alliance National Director Andrew Bray and Advocacy Director Lu Allan will be joined by rural and regional leaders at this webinar.

September 3-4
NT Resources Week

SunCable CEO Ryan Willemsen-Bell, Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Chair Tracey Hayes, Arafura Rare Earths CEO Darryl Cuzzubbo, Director of the Gas & Energy Transition Research Centre at UQ Professor David Close, and CSIRO Hydrogen Industry Mission Lead Dr Patrick G. Hartley will speak at this Darwin event, which includes a Clean Energy and Decarbonisation stream.

September 11-12
24th Energy in WA Conference

WA Program Director for The Superpower Institute Jessica Shaw will lead a panel on the nuts and bolts of how flexible, integrated solutions are being delivered, featuring Executive GM Commercial & Growth at AGIG Rachael Smith, APA’s GM Power Development Gary Bryant, Enscope President Phil Ireland, Accure’s Australia Head Alan Coller and AEMO’s System Operations expert Paul Elliott at this event in Perth.

September 16
The Price of Power: The Future of Australia's Energy Sector

Bluescope Chief Executive, Climate Change and Sustainability Deborah Caudle, Alinta Energy CEO Jeff Dimery, AGL CEO Damien Nicks and Australian Energy Council CEO Louisa Kinnear will speak at this American Chamber of Commerce event in Melbourne, with R. Blair Thomas, CEO of US energy investment firm EIG speaking via Zoom.

September 23
AEMO's Annual Results

Australian Energy Market Operator CEO Daniel Westerman and Executive General Manager for Finance and Governance Vanessa Hannan will outline progress against strategic priorities and initiatives, financial results for FY25 and priorities for FY26.

September 24
Updated net zero pathways for Australia

The Net Zero Australia Project team from the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland and Princeton University will present their latest report on the roles of renewables, energy storage and firming including nuclear, carbon capture and storage and other complementary technologies at this hybrid event.

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'Quiet majority' farmers speak up