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Australia ill-prepared for food insecurity driven by war and climate crisis, former defence leaders say 3%

Former military heads warn of risks to food supply ahead of report from Australian Security Leaders Climate Group

Australia is badly prepared for food insecurity fuelled by the climate crisis and war, former military leaders have warned.

A new report, to be released on Tuesday, describes Australia and the Asia-Pacific as a “disaster alley” for climate change, but says governments in Canberra have not properly planned for the impact of “cascading and compound events”.

Things arent going back: Australia braces for step-up in Chinas Pacific push 17%

Despite initial relief over island nations’ rejection of security and economic pact, senior government figure says reprieve could be only temporary

The Australian government is bracing for China to step up its push to expand influence in the Pacific, with a senior figure privately conceding Canberra has a lot of work to do to regain lost trust and strengthen regional unity.

Despite initial relief at a decision by Pacific island countries to defer a sweeping 10-country security and economic pact proposed by China, the Australian government now believes this may be only a temporary reprieve.

NSW premier labels Blockade Australia protesters bloody idiots as Sydney police make 12 more arrests 25%

Protesters say they’re seeking to make it clear that disruption is going to come from climate collapse

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Twelve more Blockade Australia climate protesters have been arrested over the group’s mass disruption campaign in Sydney’s CBD.

Around 40 people from climate group Blockade Australia congregated in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Tuesday morning and marched east up William Street, the major route to Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Former bikie Yusuf Nazlioglu shot dead in Sydney car park in targeted attack, police believe 4%

Nazlioglu died in hospital early on Tuesday after being found with gunshot wounds in a residential Rhodes carpark about 6.30pm on Monday

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Police believe a former Lone Wolf bikie who died after allegedly being gunned down in a car park in Sydney’s west was the victim of a targeted attack.

Yusuf Nazlioglu died in hospital early on Tuesday, after being found with gunshot wounds in a residential Rhodes carpark about 6.30pm on Monday.

Liberal MP was patron of Queensland gun club for which he claimed to have secured $20,000 grant 34%

Ross Vasta says he had ‘no decision-making power over the process or the outcome’ in grant to Belmont Branch of the Sporting Shooters Association

A Liberal MP said that he “secured” a $20,000 grant for a gun club which lists him as its patron, raising questions about whether he should have disclosed his links to the organisation in his register of interests

Backbencher Ross Vasta posted on Facebook in 2018 that he had “secured $20,000” for the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) club in Belmont, a grant that would allow them to lay asphalt over their dirt carpark.

A finite resource: as Australia recruits overseas health workers, their home nations bear the cost 23%

For international health workers, Australia often offers better pay and conditions – but inequality is worsening amid a global shortfall

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Moving to Australia from New Zealand was not a decision Ava* made lightly.

“We moved to New Zealand for the big Kiwi dream,” she says. “The country was beautiful, the lifestyle we had was magnificent.”

Pandoras box: experts say Queenslands windfall from coal royalties could set a precedent 34%

Industry and analysts predict budget measure could provide billions in additional revenue

Queensland’s rewriting of royalty rules could tip billions of dollars more into its coffers this coming year, with an analyst saying it’s a missed opportunity for New South Wales that is still open to other states and the commonwealth to mimic.

The Queensland budget this week imposed three trigger points for higher mining royalties, which the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) predicts will deliver an extra $15bn in 2022-23.

Silver lining: Australian researchers given $45m to study alternative solar panel materials 50%

Research to focus on more efficient and durable solar cells, increasing manufacturing capacity and a shift to more abundant and cheaper metals

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The Albanese government has extended funding for Australia’s world-leading solar energy scientists as they race to increase panel efficiency and shift to more abundant materials, before constraints on silver and other metals hobble the industry’s growth.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency will announce on Friday it will grant $45m over the next eight years to the University of NSW-based Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics. Most of the money will be spent within the first five years.

Paying coal and gas plants to supply back-up energy a retrograde step, Clean Energy Council says

‘It’s the wrong policy debate at the wrong time,’ industry says of capacity mechanism

Australia’s peak renewable industry groups say paying coal and gas plants to remain in the electricity market as back-up capacity would be “a retrograde step”, and a lengthy debate about changes could stall much-needed new investment.

Kane Thornton, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, said his organisation had “real concerns” about the proposal by the Energy Security Board for a so-called capacity mechanism to be introduced after 2025. Such a scheme would charge consumers for idle generation or supply to reduce risks of potential power shortages, as experienced across eastern Australia this month.

The Paris-sized blind spot in the Coalitions climate target debate | Temperature Check 20%

Coalition MPs consider the party’s climate target as the Albanese government locks in 43%, and Sky News’s Rowan Dean asks questions that have already been answered

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Coalition MPs are in the middle of a post-defeat debate over climate targets, but there appears to be a large Paris-shaped blind spot in their current commentary.

Speaking to the ABC at the weekend the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was asked repeatedly if he would support the Albanese government’s target of a 43% cut by 2030.