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NATIONAL

Ten Australians have filed a legal case with a United Nations committee claiming the Australian Government is violating their human rights by continuing to support coal and gas companies to fuel climate extremes across the country.

The ten claimants argue they have been profoundly impacted by fires, floods, rising seas, extreme heat, algal blooms and disruption to First Nations Country and Culture.

The case is the first legal claim filed in an international court or body against a country for climate harm since the International Court of Justice found last year that countries have a legal duty to prevent significant harm to the climate.

In May, Australia joined 140 other countries in passing a major United Nations resolution supporting the ICJ advisory ruling on climate change.

The case was filed with the UN Human Rights Committee, which is the body that adjudicates claims against states for breaches of international human rights law.

The ten Australians are represented by the Human Rights Law Centre, Environmental Justice Australia, and Earthjustice.

They have asked the UN Human Rights Committee to declare it is unlawful for Australia to continue approving coal and gas projects for export without a plan to keep Australians safe from dangerous climate change.

Committee rulings are non-binding.

A Senate committee inquiry into a Greens packaging waste Bill held its first hearing in Canberra on Friday.

Those giving evidence included the Australian Food and Grocery Council, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, and several waste organisations.

The hearing took place as the Australian Marine Conservation Society released the results of new polling that it commissioned, which shows 63% of voters want mandatory laws to reduce packaging waste, not just voluntary measures.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has released its 2026 Integrated System Plan, and has scheduled a webinar on the plan for July 7.

The latest plan notes that nearly 40% of the coal fleet has already retired, and renewables are fast approaching the milestone of  delivering half the annual electricity  needs of customers that are served by Australia's main electricity grid.

The report points out that to bring renewable energy to where it is needed, the current 44,000km transmission grid is being extended by 14% (or 6,000km), with more than half the new lines already underway.

The report says that the new transmission infrastructure will deliver $28 billion in net benefits to electricity consumers, and urges that these projects be delivered "without delay".

The federal government has gazetted a new method for earning carbon credits by ceasing planned logging in state-owned native forests.

The Improved Forest Management in Multiple-use Public Native Forests (INFM) method allows state governments to earn ACCUs by ceasing planned logging in these forests.

The NSW government has stated that the capacity to earn carbon credits from the cessation of public native forest logging will underpin its capacity to establish the Great Koala National Park.

The federal government has invited public comment on an Australian Conservation Foundation request to reconsider the basis for its decision that Woodside's proposed Browse fossil gas project is a controlled action under the EPBC Act.

The 2019 decision that Browse is a controlled action listed several reasons for that conclusion, but did not list potential harm to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park or to

The ACF is arguing that reconsideration is required because it is now scientifically possible to link greenhouse gas emissions from projects like Browse to additional global warming, and to quantify the ecological and human harm of that warming.

The ACF said the Browse project would result in an additional 1,597.41 million tonnes of greenhouse gas over the project's life, and these would be likely to have significant and harmful impacts on the Great Marine Reef Marine Park.

For these reasons, the Minister should reconsider the decision to approve the project, the ACF is arguing.

The ACF acknowledges that the scientific report on which its argument is based "is novel".

"It draws on established principles of attribution science but extends them in a significant and new direction, providing a scientifically grounded causal chain linking project emissions to measurable climate impacts."

"The report establishes that it is now scientifically possible to link GHG emissions from individual fossil fuel projects (like the Browse project) with additional global warming and quantify the ecological and human impacts of that warming at global and regional scales," it says.

"This is possible regardless of the location of the proposed action," the ACF says. 

The report shows emissions from Browse would result "in the additional loss of approximately 29.35 million coral colonies in the GBRMP during each future mass bleaching", the report says.

A delegate for Murray Watt has gazetted an EPBC Conservation Agreement with MACH Energy Australia Pty Ltd for the protection of 11,962 hectares of land that contains critically endangered and endangered species, including Box Gum Woodland, the Regent Honeyeater, and the Swift Parrot.

A separate Conservation Agreement with HV Operations Pty Ltd, Coal & Allied Operations Pty Ltd, and Anotero Pty Ltd for the protection of just over 1,000 hectares of critically endangered habitat.

The latest Capacity Investment Scheme tender has resulted in CIS contracts being offered to 15 battery storage projects.

Three of the successful projects are in NSW, seven are in Queensland, two are in South Australia, and three are in Victoria.

The fifteen projects will have a combined 4.2GW or 16.1GWh of energy storage - enough capacity to support peak demand for more than 3.7 million households in the National Electricity Market for up to 4 hours.

The projects are expected to create more than 6,800 jobs, mostly during the construction phase.

Subject to final contracts, the businesses behind the 15 projects have committed to providing $60 million in community benefit payments and $220 million in First Nations benefits, and will purchase Australian steel worth about $50 million.

Australia's Assistant Minister for Energy, Josh Wilson, has signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on hydrogen auctions with Stefan Rouenhoff, Germany's Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The declaration commits each government to provide up to 200 million euros towards a joint H2Global auction arrangement, which is designed to kickstart the purchase in Germany of green hydrogen produced in Australia.

Under the auction process, a German agency will run competitive tenders in Australia for green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, and will hold an auction in Europe and sell them to the highest bidder.

The funding from the two governments will cover the difference between the initial, high purchase price and the lower sale price.

Initial deliveries of renewable hydrogen products - such as hydrogen, ammonia, or methanol - from Australia to Germany are expected starting in 2030.

QUEENSLAND

The Queensland Parliament has passed a Bill that changes administrative arrangements for developments in a key agricultural area, after an LNP backflip to maintain an assessment process that it originally intended to abolish.

The Regional Planning Interests (Condamine Alluvium) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 aimed to streamline coal seam gas approvals in the Condamine Alluvium.

It also sought to clarify and expand compensation arrangements for landholders affected by subsidence from large-scale coal seam gas activities in the region.

In its original form, the LNP government intended to abolish a special regional interests development approval process, known as RIDA, arguing that it duplicated controls contained in environmental authority requirements.

The move was backed by the gas sector.

However, after strong criticism from agricultural interests concerned that it would weaken safeguards on coal seam gas developments, the government introduced amendments to its Bill to maintain RIDA within Condamine Alluvium CSG areas.

The concerns about the original form of the Bill were reflected in the Committee report on the first draft of the legislation.

The Condamine Alluvium is one of Queensland's most productive agricultural regions, with groundwater resources that underpin a significant irrigation industry.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society has welcomed the Queensland Government’s $330.5 million investment in Great Barrier Reef water quality.

The funding package, announced as part of the Queensland Budget lasts Tuesday, "represents a significant investment in Reef water quality", a Society spokesperson said.

However, the Society cautioned that the funding needs to be invested in actions that deliver "measurable reductions" in pollution entering the Reef.

"The Great Barrier Reef has a major water pollution problem, with sediment, fertilisers and pesticides running into Reef waterways and damaging corals and seagrasses," the Society said.

"That impacts the fish, dugongs, turtles and other marine life that depend on them."

The Society has previously noted that Australia has never hit its own Reef-wide water pollution reduction targets "despite extending the deadline to meet those targets three times since they were originally set in 2009".

"Last year it missed the 2025 target, and would not have hit the 60% nitrogen reduction target until the next century at current rates of reduction," it said.

Recently, the Queensland Government pushed the targets back again, until 2032, the Society said. 

The Queensland government has gazetted changes to waste levy settings. The changes follow a review of the state's waste levy arrangements.

NSW

The NSW Opposition has released a new energy policy that would result in the New England Renewable Energy Zone being significantly smaller than is currently envisaged.

Instead, the plan would focus on creating a "Sydney Renewable Energy Zone", and accelerating work to create similar zones in Newcastle and Wollongong.

These city REZs would support industrial and commercial buildings, apartment blocks and other sites to install solar and battery technology, "generating and storing power closer to where it is consumed".

The Opposition would also undertake scoping studies on a potential Outback Renewable Energy Zone in Far West NSW.

The NSW government has released a NSW Hemp Industry Development Plan.

Provisions in the plan include working with other states and the Australian Government to create a more consistent approach to hemp regulation across Australia.

According to the state government "hemp has huge potential for use as a fibre for textiles, rope, composites and building materials with additional environmental benefits in providing biomass for soil improvement and carbon capture".

Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty described the plan as "a game changer, positioning NSW to build a modern, innovative and profitable hemp sector".

VICTORIA

The Victorian government has released a First Peoples Renewable Energy Strategic Plan, which was co-designed with Traditional Owners.

The plan outlines how Traditional Owners can shape renewable energy projects on Country and share in the opportunities being created through Victoria's shift to renewable.

The Victorian Auditor-General's Office has scheduled a new audit on "building renewable energy transmission infrastructure". The audit report will be released in FY29.

VAGO has also scheduled a new follow-up audit on efforts to protect Victoria's critically endangered grasslands, which will also report in FY29.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The Net Zero Economy Authority has published submissions received in response to its consultation on whether the southwest WA town of Collie needs a formal Energy Industry Jobs Plan.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

The Federal Court has rejected arguments by environment group Lock the Gate that a pilot fracking project by Tamboran in the Beetaloo Basin should be assessed under the EPBC Act’s water trigger, to assess groundwater risks.

THE COP31 GLOBAL CLIMATE TALKS

At this month's Bonn UNFCCC climate discussions in Germany, COP31 President Türkiye has announced a new global electrification target will be part of its Action Agenda.

The target, '35% by 2035’, calls for a third of the world’s energy needs to be met by electricity within the next decade.

And in a related move, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have issued a joint statement on climate and energy in which they agree to join a new global electrification initiative – 'Electrify Now'.

The initiative was launched as part of London Climate Action Week.