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NATIONAL

The federal government is inviting feedback on two more draft EPBC National Environmental Standards.

One of the standards is on community engagement, and the other is on data and information.

Environment Minister Murray Watt has acknowledged widespread concerns about a first draft of Australia's Sustainable Ocean Plan, released in 2024, and has announced a revised draft will be released shortly.

Australia committed to develop the plan as part of its membership of the international High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.

"I did get feedback that the earlier draft wasn't hitting the mark, so we've listened and taken a bit more time to get it right," the Minister said in a speech last week to the Australia and the Pacific Ocean Business Leaders Summit.

The revised draft "will reflect your feedback on Australia's ocean priorities", he said.

The Minister also announced that Australia's incoming senior official liaising with the High Level Panel (known as the Ocean Sherpa) would be Dr Tony Worby.

In addition, the Minister announced the establishment of a new National Ocean Steering Committee, comprising federal, state, territory and local government representatives.

A new advisory group, chaired by Tony Worby, will support the work of the Steering Committee.

The Climate Change Authority is inviting submissions how Australia can accelerate reductions in fossil methane emissions.

The Authority notes that fossil methane - fugitive methane emissions from coal mining, oil, and gas production -accounts for around 24% of Australia's methane emission.

It is seeking views on abatement opportunities, and the effectiveness of current policies.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has released its submission to the review of the Murray-Darling Basin plan.

"The Murray–Darling Basin Plan has delivered a fundamental shift in how water is shared and managed across the Basin," the submission says.

"By setting sustainable diversion limits and establishing water for the environment as a core component of the system, the Basin Plan has rebalanced water use in a way that was previously unimaginable," it says.

However state governments need to modernise their water management and operating rules so that environmental needs are properly considered, the submission says.

The federal government is working with NSW to pilot EPBC bioregional planning guidance for the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie councils, Environment Minister Murray Watt has told a conference in the NSW Hunter region.

Watt also told the Urban Development Institute conference that a "housing strike team" established within his department last August had so far approved developments that would support more than 35,500 new homes.

In doing so, the team had "smashed" its initial target of assessing 26,000 new homes by the end of July this year, he said.

Environment Minister Murray Watt has announced that John Bradley will be the inaugural chief executive of the new National Environmental Protection Agency.

Bradley was previously secretary of Victoria's Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, and is also a former head of Queensland's environment department.

In his LinkedIn profile, Bradley notes that he has led energy market reform in four jurisdictions.

He is a former board member of Greening Australia, Infrastructure Victoria, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins has announced 10 projects that will receive Agricultural Traceability Grants totalling $4 million, including several environmental projects.

Planfarm Pty Ltd will receive a grant to develop a framework for generating commodity-level carbon accounts in the horticulture industry.

The National Timber & Hardware Association Ltd will use its grant to help develop a digital traceability framework so small timber exporters can demonstrate they comply with EU anti-deforestation requirements.

Australian Organic Ltd will use its grant to help develop a national organic certification program.

A CEFC-backed NAB discount green loan program targeting farmers and agribusinesses has in its first year provided more than $130 million in discounted finance to about 550 Australian small to medium businesses.

Electric vehicles now dominate the NAB program, accounting for around half of all assets financed under it.

"Across the broader NEM, more than 6.4 GW of renewable generation and grid-scale batteries reached full output in 2025 – more than double that of 2024," Nevenka Codevelle, chief executive of electricity tender administrator ASL has told Australian Energy Week.

However, rising interest rates, construction cost inflation, global supply chain pressures, and fewer long-term offtake opportunities have materially impacted wind project economics, Codevelle said.

"Projects have also increased in scale. A one gigawatt wind project requires more than $3 billion dollars in capital. That is a large cheque — and it creates a substantial absolute exposure to financing costs."

"These commercial challenges are further exacerbated by lower wholesale prices, making some form of revenue support such as those offered under jurisdictional schemes an effective precondition for investment," she said.

"We cannot wait until coal retires for price signals to stimulate investment. We need the investment to happen now," she said.

"Our messaging to the market now is that projects should bid into tenders competitively, but for what they need to get built," Codevelle said.

"Not to secure windfall gains, but to reach a genuinely bankable position and move rapidly to FID."

"2026 must be a year of financial close and commitment, not only to meet targets but because the lights have to stay on as coal exists."

EnergyConnect, Australia's largest existing transmission project, is now in the process of being fully energised following the completion of construction.

The project involved the construction of 700km of transmission lines from the South Australian border to Red Cliffs in Victoria and Wagga Wagga in NSW.

NSW

All licensed landfills and sewage treatment plants in NSW will be required to monitor and report PFAS in wastewater under new EPA requirements that come into effect from October this year.

The new mandatory monitoring regime, which is set out in a new Chemical Control Order, is in line with guidance in the PFAS National Environment Management Plan.

About 140 landfills and 260 sewage treatment plants will be required to monitor and report their PFAS discharges under these new requirements.

By 2024, climate change was already costing the people of NSW about $20,000 per year in economic loss, totalling $180 billion in that year, says a new report from the NSW Net Zero Commission.

The report notes that climate change causes economic harm in a range of ways.

For example, it can damage infrastructure, result in higher insurance premiums, lead to lower agricultural yields, and cause supply chain disruptions.

Modelling carried out for the Commission system that even if warming stabilises at well below 2 degrees by 2100 then by 2070 annual grocery bills for a four-person household will still be about $2,000 higher than now.

But if warming doesn't stabilise until it's at 2.6 degrees warmer than now - which is the current trajectory - then annual grocery bills for a four-person household will be $3,000 higher.

"Overall, the analysis demonstrates that climate change is already, and will continue to, function as a persistent drag on economic growth in NSW," the report says.

"Lowering global greenhouse gas emissions will limit climate change impacts and lessen the drag," the report says.

The Clean Energy Investor Group in conjunction with law firm HSF Kramer has released a new report on delivering major clean energy projects in NSW, which updates a version of the report released in 2023.

The 2023 report identified key planning process pinch points that were slowing the approval of clean energy projects, and the update says there has been some progress in efforts to remove these barriers.

The update notes the average approval timeframes for state significant wind projects have been slashed from 3,488 days for the period 2018 to 2023, to 1,205 days for the period from March 2021 to March 2026.

But it now takes longer than it did in 2018 to 2023 to get state-significant solar and grid battery projects approved.

And approval timeframes for wind, solar and batteries in NSW are still longer than in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia, the report says.

Statutory development - mine rehabilitation. Consultation closed last week on a proposed new NSW regulation on mine rehabilitation.

The proposed Mining Amendment (Mine Rehabilitation) Regulation would amend standard conditions of mining leases dealing with matters including the provision of rehabilitation reports and the publication of rehabilitation cost estimates.

The drafting of the regulations follows the 2025 release of a NSW Audit Office report that found the NSW Resources Regulator was not effectively monitoring and reporting on compliance with mining rehabilitation requirements.

VICTORIA

A Victorian parliamentary committee inquiry into increasing EV ownership has recommended that the state government expand fleet electrification programs.

The report also calls for the development of a statewide EV charging strategy and implementation plan, and it recommends that the government allow heavy electric vehicles to operate overnight, on a trial basis.

In addition, the report recommends that the state government establish a grants or subsidy program for the retrofitting of multi-unit buildings for EV charging readiness.

TASMANIA

The federal government has issued an EPBC notice of intention to work with the Tasmanian government to develop a draft bilateral agreement that would accredit Tasmania's management framework for native forest logging.

The move follows the passage of the EPBC Act reforms, which will bring forestry operations covered by Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) under the EPBC Act from mid-next year.

The move means that forestry operations in RFA regions will be required to comply with the EPBC national environmental standards.

"These reforms will see the sector meet the same environmental standards we apply to every other industry across Australia," Minister Watt said.

The notice of intention is "an important step toward securing the long-term future of Tasmania's sustainable forestry industry," said Tasmania's Business, Industry and Resources Minister, Felix Ellis.

However, Greens forests spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said it was "unacceptable" to start negotiations on a bilateral agreement ahead of finalising the relevant environmental standards.

"Native forest logging should end, and it should end now," Senator McKim said.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Kangaroo Island has become the largest island anywhere in the world where a feral pig population has been successfully eradicated, the South Australian government has announced.

The state government described the eradication program as a "globally significant achievement for environmental and agricultural management".

The South Australian EPA has concluded that an artificial sponge that had been proposed as a potential tool to absorb dangerous algae off the state's coast would negatively impact the environment.

The EPA concluded that the artificial Gyroid sponge would release a large quantity of dissolved zinc into water that flows through it.

The zinc could be toxic to marine life, the EPA said.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Statutory development - grid connections. The Western Australian Legislative Assembly has passed a Bill that simplifies the process of calculating payments required to connect to the state's main grid.

Until now, capital charges for connections have been calculated on a complex project-specific basis.

The Bill will introduce a $100,000 per MW fixed capital charge for new and expanded connections of projects larger than 10MW.

The Bill passed the Legislative Assembly with Opposition support, and is now before the Legislative Council.

The Western Australian government has granted an aquaculture licence to Fremantle-based company SeaStock Pty Ltd to build the state's first commercial scale, land-based seaweed production facility.

The facility will grow a type of red algae known as Asparagopsis, that can be used in feed supplements to reduce methane emissions from livestock.

Asparagopsis grows naturally along the WA coast, but SeaStock has developed a high-yield onshore cultivation method.

The Western Australian government has announced a further $9.8 million grant to Generation Steel - formerly known as Green Steel of WA - to advance its plans for Australia's first low-emissions steel mill.

The company is proposing the steel recycling mill for a site in Collie.

The money will be allocated from the state's $230 million Collie Industrial Transition Fund, which was established to help workers and the local community deal with the end of the region's dependence on coal mining and coal power generation.

The project is expected to create up to 500 construction jobs and 217 ongoing jobs.

IDEAS, ADVOCACY, GUIDANCE, AND INNOVATION

The McKell Institute has released a new report recommending the establishment of a new federal entity called Sovereign Power.

The think tank says the new entity should build and own firmed renewable regeneration, and sign long-term power purchase agreements with Australia's strategic industrial facilities.

The report says the private market "cannot deliver firmed industrial electricity at the price heavy industry needs".

"The Capacity Investment Scheme has awarded 20GW but only 3.3GW has started construction – a conversion rate of 17%," the report says.

"This has created a dual-sided failure: renewable generation is not being built because it lacks a direct link to major industrial demand, and major industry investments are not occurring without long-term energy security."

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