Financial Review editor wins SOPA award
Riordan's investigation tracked Forrest's erratic and at times impulsive leadership style that contributed to the company's dramatic and costly backdown from its hydrogen ambitions.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
15 hours ago
- West Australian
Consultants blamed for 1500 jobs in doubt at six unis
The university regulator will get more than a sledgehammer and a feather in its kit bag as the alarm is sounded on widespread job cuts and vice-chancellor pay. Dozens demonstrated at the Australian Financial Review's Education Summit in Sydney amid allegations of bullying and harassment from top brass at prestigious universities and fears for 1500 jobs at six institutions. In a speech to the summit, federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the powers of the regulator have not changed in the last 15 years. "At the moment, TEQSA has a sledgehammer and a feather, and not much in between," he said of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. Mr Clare argued it needed better tools to step in and act on governance and leadership issues. But he also gently took aim at the ballooning salaries of Australian vice-chancellors who are among the highest paid in the world, topping some Ivy League university leaders. Their average salary was more than $1 million in 2024. "Can I just encourage everyone again, don't be defensive about this," he said. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) national president Dr Alison Barnes commended Mr Clare but said actions are needed to match his words. The summit also coincides with a NSW parliamentary inquiry being launched into university governance. Former academic turned Labor MP Sarah Kaine, who will chair the inquiry, was among those who protested outside the summit in Sydney over the restructures. "Universities are not just institutions of learning - they are public assets, civic anchors, and engines of social progress," Dr Kaine said on Tuesday. "Are universities being run in the public interest? Are they accessible, inclusive, and accountable? Are they fulfilling their promise to serve society - not just markets?" The union says six out of 10 public universities in the state have 1500 jobs are on the chopping block. It noted it is in dispute with three separate NSW universities in the Fair Work Commission over failures to consult on major restructures and a lack of evidence behind decision making. "There's a clear picture of a sector in crisis due to corporate greed and poor leadership," the union said on Tuesday. "While staff are losing jobs and students are losing courses, senior executives and consultants are meeting inside the summit to discuss the sector's future without staff or student voices at the table." It pointed the finger at global consulting firm Nous, which is sponsoring the summit, of having a "notorious track record in education in Australia" linking to job cuts across the higher education sector. The union said the best interest of students is not being put first as the sector suffers from severe financial mismanagement, overblown salaries of university leaders, and suspension of course enrolments. AAP has contacted Universities Australia and Nous for comment. It comes off the back of former foreign affairs minister and ANU chancellor Julie Bishop being accused of humiliating an academic and driving her to suicide. The allegations, aired during a Senate hearing, have been rejected by Ms Bishop, who denies engaging with any university council members or staff with anything but "respect, courtesy and civility". Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Perth Now
15 hours ago
- Perth Now
Consultants blamed for 1500 jobs in doubt at six unis
The university regulator will get more than a sledgehammer and a feather in its kit bag as the alarm is sounded on widespread job cuts and vice-chancellor pay. Dozens demonstrated at the Australian Financial Review's Education Summit in Sydney amid allegations of bullying and harassment from top brass at prestigious universities and fears for 1500 jobs at six institutions. In a speech to the summit, federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the powers of the regulator have not changed in the last 15 years. "At the moment, TEQSA has a sledgehammer and a feather, and not much in between," he said of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. Mr Clare argued it needed better tools to step in and act on governance and leadership issues. But he also gently took aim at the ballooning salaries of Australian vice-chancellors who are among the highest paid in the world, topping some Ivy League university leaders. Their average salary was more than $1 million in 2024. "Can I just encourage everyone again, don't be defensive about this," he said. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) national president Dr Alison Barnes commended Mr Clare but said actions are needed to match his words. The summit also coincides with a NSW parliamentary inquiry being launched into university governance. Former academic turned Labor MP Sarah Kaine, who will chair the inquiry, was among those who protested outside the summit in Sydney over the restructures. "Universities are not just institutions of learning - they are public assets, civic anchors, and engines of social progress," Dr Kaine said on Tuesday. "Are universities being run in the public interest? Are they accessible, inclusive, and accountable? Are they fulfilling their promise to serve society - not just markets?" The union says six out of 10 public universities in the state have 1500 jobs are on the chopping block. It noted it is in dispute with three separate NSW universities in the Fair Work Commission over failures to consult on major restructures and a lack of evidence behind decision making. "There's a clear picture of a sector in crisis due to corporate greed and poor leadership," the union said on Tuesday. "While staff are losing jobs and students are losing courses, senior executives and consultants are meeting inside the summit to discuss the sector's future without staff or student voices at the table." It pointed the finger at global consulting firm Nous, which is sponsoring the summit, of having a "notorious track record in education in Australia" linking to job cuts across the higher education sector. The union said the best interest of students is not being put first as the sector suffers from severe financial mismanagement, overblown salaries of university leaders, and suspension of course enrolments. AAP has contacted Universities Australia and Nous for comment. It comes off the back of former foreign affairs minister and ANU chancellor Julie Bishop being accused of humiliating an academic and driving her to suicide. The allegations, aired during a Senate hearing, have been rejected by Ms Bishop, who denies engaging with any university council members or staff with anything but "respect, courtesy and civility". Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Herald Sun
2 days ago
- Herald Sun
WA tech breakthrough could save struggling green hydrogen industry
Australia's green-hydrogen ambitions, plagued by 'prohibitive' costs and a lack of demand, might have found their saviour in an innovative local technology. As Andrew Forrest's Fortescue grapples with its fading green-hydrogen boom, Perth-based Carbon280 is promising a revolutionary approach to store and transport hydrogen safely and cheaply at ambient temperatures, potentially unlocking billions of dollars' worth of stalled projects and positioning Australia as a global leader in the green-energy transition. It has received backing from Woodside Energy and developed a groundbreaking suspended metal hydride it says could finally make green hydrogen economically viable for large-scale industrial uses, from green steel to aviation fuels, outpacing current solutions. Carbon280 has raised $16.6m, including a $11.1m seed investment led by Woodside and supported by Hive Energy, a UK renewable company, and a family office from Singapore It has also received $5.5m in research and development rebates from the federal government as it opens a pilot plant at Kwinana in Western Australia. Founder and chief executive Mark Rheinlander, a geologist by training, said the aim was to show its Hydrilyte product was not only safer and more efficient but economically viable on a global scale. 'Everyone rushed like bubbles out of the gate to get these huge megaprojects going and the technology to do them economically just wasn't there yet,' Mr Rheinlander said. But, he said that because Hydrilyte was a suspended metal hydride it put the product in a 'category of its own' and could save the burgeoning hydrogen industry billions of dollars in transport costs alone. 'We can store and transport Hydrilyte using existing transport infrastructure like tanks, trucks and ships,' Mr Rheinlander said. 'It is safe and non-toxic, apart from, so it's inherently safe. So unlike ammonia or methanol, which you have to make safe, there's a cost to that. So there's the cost of all the equipment to make it safe. 'We're storing hydrogen in IBC totes – those cubic-metre storage containers that you just see everywhere. So you compare that to a compressed hydrogen tank, actually a better example would be a tube trailer, which costs somewhere between $800,000 and $1m for a 500-bar tube trailer. 'We can put twice as much hydrogen into a half-height 40-foot container which costs a few thousand dollars.' It's the potential to unlock natural hydrogen, which Mr Rheinlander said could be produced at $US1kg, making it cost-competitive with fossil fuels. Hydrilyte technology uses a liquid suspension of magnesium powder in mineral oil to store and release hydrogen. Hydrogen is bubbled through the suspension, reacting with the magnesium to form magnesium hydride, which is a stable solid. To release the hydrogen, heat is applied, breaking down the magnesium hydride and releasing the gas. 'When all these natural hydrogen projects come to fruition, they're going to have a mixed-gas stream that contains hydrogen and often helium. If you can't separate the two, then you're either going to lose the very high-value byproduct or you're going to have purity problems which may impact on the use of the hydrogen downstream,' Mr Rheinlander said. 'We are uniquely positioned to help those hydrogen producers capture the hydrogen and then deliver it to where it needs to go. 'We're dealing with magnesium … that's the core, I guess, active component of our technology. It's globally available in rocks and seawater. We've got a cheap core product. And then because the handling is really cheap and because we're talking about pumping, trucking, shipping something which is very similar to a heavyweight crude in terms of the viscosity that you're dealing with, that enables us to reuse existing infrastructure which brings the cost down.' Green hydrogen remains elusive. Fortescue has ditched plans to spend almost $900m on a hydrogen project in Arizona and confirmed that what was once touted as a $1bn investment in a hydrogen facility in Gladstone, Queensland, would no longer go ahead. The Gladstone plant had received about $60m in federal and Queensland government support. Dr Forrest said he would return that money 'where required under the grant agreement'. While the hydrogen industry has suffered a number of setbacks in the past year, the Albanese government this year announced up to $814m in support for the Murchison green-hydrogen project in Western Australia and a $432m investment in Orica's Hunter Valley hydrogen hub. Energy Minister Chris Bowen indicated the government had not given up on hydrogen. And Mr Rheinlander is confident hydrogen will enter the mainstream. 'The first thing why these projects fail to reach FID (final investment decision) is the high cost of electrolytic hydrogen,' Mr Rheinlander said. 'I'm saying electrolytic rather than green because although they are used synonymously. Electrolysis is not the only way to produce green hydrogen. 'There are other processes that are at lower maturity levels but are coming through and which may be three or four times as efficient at converting solar energy into hydrogen. One's photothermal catalysis and there's an Australian company Spark Energy doing work with that. 'Then there's also natural hydrogen. And so natural hydrogen is looking at you know prices of around $US1 a kilogram. So if that comes through then essentially you've got really low-cost hydrogen and then that price is going to be competitive with fossil fuels just on a megajoules basis.' Originally published as Twiggy's hydrogen headaches? This obscure Aussie start-up offers a cure after raising $16.6m
