Pocock says voters have ‘buyer's remorse' after Labor approves massive gas development's 40-year extension
Crossbenchers and environmental advocates are furious at the government's decision to extend the life of one of the world's biggest liquified natural gas projects from 2030 to 2070.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, gave the green light to Woodside Energy's application to extend the life of the North West Shelf project from 2030 to 2070.
Independent senator for the ACT David Pocock said it was a 'devastating decision'.
'I think there'll be a lot of people with some buyer's remorse – I think people voted for Labor to actually do better on climate,' he told Guardian Australia.
'I think it really is a betrayal of Australians and the Pacific. I think it's really, really sad.'
Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as an email
Others on the crossbench also spoke out, blasting the decision. Independent MP Zali Steggall said it would be a 'mark on Anthony Albanese and the 48th parliament's legacy'.
'The first official action they have taken is to approve an emissions bomb till 2070, and that puts at risk our net zero commitment,' she said.
Steggall also said that the election was a 'clear debate' on climate, and that the public voted for 'transition to renewable energy'.
'The reality is that the decision to expand and extend the North West Shelf to 2070 makes a mockery of the commitment to [net zero by] 2050 and makes a mockery of the commitment to preserving cultural heritage,' she said.
Watt said he had been required to consider the potential impact of the plant on the national heritage values of nearby ancient rock art, and economic and social matters. Under the current legislation, climate change is not grounds to refuse or limit a development application. Watt has been charged with legislating a federal environment protection agency, after the last laws, designed under former environment minister Tanya Plibersek, were dumped near the end of the last parliamentary term.
On Thursday, Anthony Albanese told ABC radio the country was halfway towards delivering achieving its target of 82% renewables by 2030, but that the grid needed to be 'backed by gas'.
'[The extension] was approved by the state government. Murray Watt, as the federal minister, had to look at some of the issues which are there. He has made a preliminary determination out there for comment that is based upon very strict conditions,' he said.
Watt said he had told Woodside the extension, on the Burrup Peninsula in northern Western Australia, would come with 'strict conditions' relating to local air pollution.
Labor MPs, some who had previously spoken out against the government's 2050 gas strategy, were less agitated than the crossbench by the approval.
One said it was 'not ideal' but noted Watt was confined to the current environmental laws. Another MP also said that the environment minister was in a 'very difficult' position in making a decision within the 'constraints of the law'.
They said the decision 'solidified … the need to get action on environmental reforms'.
Sign up to Clear Air Australia
Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis
after newsletter promotion
A third Labor source said the timing was 'tough', following closely on an election with climate and the energy transition in focus.
The CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Kelly O'Shanassy, said Watt could have used the current environmental laws – the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act – to reject the extension.
'The EPBC Act is a series of processes that the minister can apply, so they can if they want to choose to assess the climate implications of a project right now – and they just choose not to,' she said.
'Global warming, which is right now causing droughts to be worse in South Australia, floods to be worse in NSW, and not so long ago, a cyclone hitting Brisbane – that is driven by coal and gas and the government seems to be ok with that.'
On Wednesday, following the decision, the Greens accused Watt of having 'failed at the first hurdle'.
'Rather than protecting the environment, the minister has just approved the trashing of our environment and trashing climate action,' said the party's environmental spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young.
On Thursday, mining company Fortescue Metals, owned by the billionaire Andrew Forrest, sharply criticised the approval.
The company's chief executive, Dino Otranto, said the suggestion that Australia could lock in fossil fuel projects until 2070 while still claiming progress toward net zero was 'concerning'.
'If Australia is serious about tackling climate change we must move beyond net zero and commit to genuine emissions reduction,' he said.
'Extending high-emitting projects like the North West Shelf is not a credible long-term climate solution – it's a step backward. More than that, it raises serious questions about how we define climate ambition in Australia.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Sister comes to niece's rescue after her mum was killed in shocking murder-suicide
The grieving sister of a woman gunned down by her husband in a suspected murder-suicide has rushed to care for her nine-year-old niece. Krystel and James Paul, both aged 41, were found dead in their home in Mount Sheridan, south of Cairns, on Tuesday night. Police discovered the high school sweethearts' bodies with gunshot wounds in the bathroom and main room of their Verbena Drive home at about 7pm. Mount Sheridan local Danna Lancini said the couple's scared nine-year-old daughter came to her home moments after they heard gunshots. The girl was in complete shock and struggled to speak. 'I had to comfort she told me that her mum was dead,' Ms Lancini told the Cairns Post. 'The girl said "my dad sent me here because she's dead".' Krystel's sister, Jasmin Bolt, said on Saturday that she and her mother would be raising the nine-year-old girl. 'Mum and I will be looking after (Krystel's) daughter,' she said on a GoFundMe page she set up. 'We're trying to navigate through this hard time and I need to make sure (she) is financially secure for her future, to help with schooling moving forward. 'I'm new to this "Go Fund Me" stuff but I was told by a few family members that I should start one. 'Thank you everyone for your kind words and support.' In the space of seven hours, the page raised $15,705 of the $50,000 target. Police don't believe the girl witnessed the incident. 'However that still doesn't take away from how traumatising that will be for that child and the family members and friends moving forward,' Detective Acting Inspector Alina Bell said. The Pauls didn't have a domestic violence or mental health history and were not known to police. 'It's always possible that things go on behind closed doors that family, friends and police are not aware of,' Det Bell said. 'But our investigations have indicated to date that there is no indication that there was any domestic violence within that relationship.' Multiple firearms were located in the home, all registered to the husband. Domestic violence advocate Sherele Moody said on Thursday she received messages from someone close to Ms Paul, which gave an insight into her final moments. 'Krystel Paul had packed her bags, put them in the boot of her car and was walking out the door. He shot her to death,' she wrote on her social media page. 'This is why women don't report. This is why women don't leave.' Ms Moody's foundation, Australian Femicide Watch, listed Ms Paul as the 31st woman killed in a domestic violence incident in Australia this year. No residents on Verbena Drive have recalled any indication of domestic violence over the two years the couple lived in the recently built home.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The five key questions that must be answered in the hunt for Pheobe Bishop - as mystery surrounding the missing teen deepens
More than two weeks after missing 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop was last seen in Queensland 's Bundaberg region, unsettling questions about her fate remain. Retired detective Charlie Bezzina, who spent 38 years with Victoria Police including 17 years as a homicide investigator and team leader, has been following the case. He's drawn on his years of experience to give Daily Mail Australia an insight into what may be happening behind the scenes on the investigation into her disappearance. Pheobe was due to fly from Bundaberg to Brisbane and then on to Perth to visit her boyfriend on May 15 but did not board her flight and was not sighted at the airport. Her housemates, Tanika Bromley and her partner James Wood, have been charged with unrelated firearm offences and the home they shared with Pheobe at Gin Gin has been sealed off, with forensic experts sent in. Bromley and Wood told detectives they drove Pheobe the 40 minutes from Gin Gin to the airport in a silver Hyundai ix35 hatchback, which was also seized. The couple has not been charged with any offence related to Pheobe's disappearance and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest either is involved in any way. Police have used cadaver dogs to search bushland in Good Night Scrub National Park, about an hour away from where Pheobe was last seen. Pheobe has not contacted family or friends and not accessed her bank account or social media. She has not used her phone since a last-minute call to her boyfriend before she was due to fly out to meet him. Bezzina told Daily Mail Australia detectives were right to be treating Pheobe's disappearance as a potential homicide and not simply a runaway teen. 'These type of jobs are problematic in themselves, given the high number of missing persons that occur during the year state-wide and Australia-wide,' Bezzina said. 'You need to look at the circumstances.' Since Pheobe vanished, a picture has emerged of an unsettled girl who had a strained relationship with her family and had been in and out of home for years. She had found accommodation with Wood and Bromley in a dilapidated house surrounded by rubbish from where a number of dead dogs were removed by police. In March, Pheobe had posted a video on TikTok saying she was not 'built for this town' and that those around her were not her 'people'. Pheobe's mother, Kylie Johnson, has said she was going through hell not knowing what had happened to her daughter: 'The tears come, the anger and frustrations come and most of all our hearts are shattering more and more each day.' Is Pheobe dead or alive? Police say there is no evidence Pheobe was ever dropped off at Bundaberg Airport. They have not found her luggage and there is no CCTV footage of her at the terminal. 'What we have here is a lady who was due to fly out, and she never made that flight, which is of concern,' Bezzina said. 'So that would heighten the anxiety of investigators to say, "Well, why hasn't she met that flight?" 'They would be gleaning as much information as possible in relation to her background, the facts of her living [circumstances], associates, friends, family and that type of thing to establish whether foul play has occurred. 'Whatever picture has been built up by the police would be indicative of their continued response in relation to it. 'Whilst it may appear sinister to us, there's been no indication of foul play, like any bloodstains.' Detective Acting Inspector Ryan Thompson has confirmed police were investigating reports Pheobe had been fighting with someone in the car on the way to the airport and was kicked out of the vehicle. Asked whether police believed Pheobe had met with foul play, he said they were not ruling out any scenario. Anyone with dashcam footage of the silver Hyundai in the Airport Drive, Samuels Road and general Gin Gin area on May 15 has been urged to contact investigators. Where are police searching and why? Police began a search of Good Night Scrub National Park last Saturday, nine days after Pheobe went missing. They introduced cadaver dogs to the bushland on Sunday. That search was suspended on Wednesday when police announced the 'greater Gin Gin' area remained the focus of their investigations. 'You can only go where the evidence takes you,' Bezzina said. 'And clearly, the evidence has taken them to a particular location. 'It is indicative that they've got certain intelligence in relation to why they've gone to that particular area. 'They've started the ground search with cadaver dogs and cadaver dogs are looking for human remains, which is indicative of possible foul play.' Bezzina said police would not have begun searching the national park until they had a good reason to do so, given the vastness of the bushland in the area. 'You just can't go and say, "You know what? We'll just look in this search area." It's got to be fact-driven in relation to the amount of resources you would then place in there. 'So, I wouldn't be critical of the police taking those days [before commencing that search]. 'Because at the end of the day, it's all about costings and justifying it to command and saying, "We need to give a full concerted effort to search in this location."' Acting Inspector Ryan Thompson said on May 27 police were trying to establish if evidence had been removed from the national park after they 'received information'. What if Pheobe has just run away? Bezzina said the worst mistake police could make in the case of a missing person was to have closed minds and therefore be complacent. 'It's quite easy to get tunnel vision,' he said. 'To say, "Ah well, she's a 17-year-old, she's got no family ties. She's a bit of an itinerant type of person. She comes and goes, and whatever her background may well be." 'The biggest flaw investigators can make is having a closed mind and saying, "Well, you know, she's just a runaway."' Retired detective Charlie Bezzina said investigators would be pushing their inquiries as hard as possible because time was vital in missing persons cases Bezzina cited the case of William Tyrrell, the three-year-old boy who disappeared from Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast in September 2014. 'Time and time again, investigators pay a significant penalty by not doing the job appropriately and to the full extent,' he said. 'When they do find a person is deceased and they say, "Jeez, what have we lost in the meantime?" 'So you've got to go full bore. You've really got to and put in as much resources as you can.' Are police putting in enough resources? Bezzina noted the investigation into Pheobe's disappearance was being handled by senior criminal investigators. 'I think from what I'm reading in the media, they are going full out,' he said. 'They are committing resources to it. 'They're looking at her bank movements, telephone, any other places that they might be able to track her in her movements, and they'll continue.' Bezzina said it was vital that senior investigators drive their junior officers to chase down every lead and then review that information. 'You've got to follow every avenue,' he said. 'And that's what separates a specialist squad like the homicide squad or the missing persons unit, because they know the pitfalls, as opposed to a general detective.' What's next in the investigation? Bezzina said investigators would be pushing their inquiries as hard as possible because time was vital in missing persons cases. 'As time goes on, we lose evidence, we lose witnesses, we lose memory, and we lose the impact from the community being involved,' he said. 'So it's keeping it alive in the community mind to be able to say, "We need you - you are the eyes and ears of us as investigators." 'it's really keeping that interest up and keeping that momentum up, from a team leader to your frontline investigators.' Bezzina said it appeared police were doing all they could to find Pheobe and anyone who might be responsible if she has met a grim fate. 'It's heartening to see that the police have taken this action given the thousands upon thousands of people that do go missing,' he said. 'I can't see any criticism for what the police are doing. It takes time. It's not a quick fix. It is being methodical, and there's no going back. 'We have got an individual, a 17-year-old individual, that for no apparent reason that we know of has gone missing, which is a cause of concern. 'And the buck stops with the police to give the family answers one way or the other.' Charlie Bezzina has for the past 14 years been assisting the family of 12-year-old Terry Floyd who went missing from Victoria's Central Highlands in June 1975.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Melbourne City v Melbourne Victory: A-League Men grand final
Update: Date: 2025-05-31T09:13:09.000Z Title: Martin Pegan Content: sets the scene: Australian football has been here many times before, with visions of a grand spectacle that might reignite the passion of casual observers. The Mariners' back-to-back championship triumphs will live long in the memory but so too does the last time Victory and City met under the glare of the spotlight in the wake of the Socceroos' stirring 2022 World Cup campaign. With fans railing against the APL's decision to break with tradition and hold three grand finals in Sydney – a deal that would have concluded with this year's decider – the Melbourne derby descended into humiliating chaos when spectators invaded the pitch and forced the match to be abandoned for player safety reasons. This time, with no new clouds hanging over the competition and the grand final being given clear air in Melbourne, the focus can turn to matters on the pitch and a tussle between two evenly matched teams playing for more than just championship glory. Update: Date: 2025-05-31T09:09:36.000Z Title: Content: Plenty of pyro and police on the streets of Melbourne this evening. Update: Date: 2025-05-31T09:01:54.000Z Title: Preamble Content: Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the A-League Men grand final between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory. Kick-off at AAMI Park is 7.40pm. It's the biggest night on the domestic football calendar and the biggest night for club football in Melbourne in the A-League era. There's still an awful lot wrong with the game in Australia and the cut-through of the local competition but it's events like this that have the potential to show how the A-League can thrive. City have been building for this moment all season. A fifth grand final in six years comes as no surprise to a squad that has only spent one week outside the top six on the ladder, and finished their premiership campaign with seven wins from 11 matches. Their semi-final was a two-legged affair, but was over after one when they put three unanswered goals past Western United. Victory, by contrast, have come from the clouds to make it this far. They didn't win a match between rounds eight and 15 as they came to terms with the departure of manager Patrick Kisnorbo, but his former assistant Arthur Diles picked up the baton and turned Victory into one of the form teams of the second half of the season. Even so, they still had to win away at the higher ranked Western Sydney Wanderers in the first week of the finals, and then overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit in their semi-final away at premiership winners Auckland FC. Victory will fancy their chances of their underdog run continuing. A nominal away fixture, they will have the majority of the crowd at the sold out AAMI Park behind them. And they have not lost any of the past eight derbies – a record stretching back to the shameful night in December 2022 when Victory fans invaded the pitch and attacked City goalkeeper Tom Glover. A-League bosses will be praying to all the Gods such scenes are not repeated tonight.
