Labor secures Greens support for power bill relief

Labor and the Greens have secured a package of support to switch to high-quality electric appliances that will lower power bills for people, including low and middle-income households and renters, stated Greens leader Adam Bandt last night. Today parliament reconvenes for an urgent sitting to rein in skyrocketing power prices. However, gas companies have made a last-ditch attempt to win concessions from the Albanese government over its contentious energy price bill, which is now certain to pass the parliament later today after the Greens guaranteed their support. In a move designed to wedge the Coalition, the government will use a single bill to legislate a 12-month gas price cap of $12 a gigajoule, create a framework for a mandatory code of conduct for gas companies, and authorise $1.5 billion for power subsidies for households and small businesses.

Coal exporters from Australia reaped as much as $45bn in windfall profit in the 2021-22 year, with a similar bonanza likely this year, offering governments a budgetary boon for those willing to grasp it, the Australia Institute has said. In a report released on Thursday, the institute’s economists said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent disruption to energy markets alone had delivered between $13bn and $23bn of gains to coalminers. All up, those gains totalled between $39bn and $45bn.

In other news, the Sydney to Melbourne train journey could be slashed from 11 hours down to just six, and at a fraction of the cost of high-speed rail plans, if sections of the track were upgraded for medium-speed rail, a train expert says. While a high-speed rail line would take decades to build, laying just 200km of new, straighter track to replace an existing 250km stretch of steam-age railway would deliver a quicker service within four years, according to Wollongong University associate professor Philip Laird.

Parliament reconvenes for urgent sitting to rein in skyrocketing power prices
The year in federal parliament seemed to be over a fortnight ago when politicians offered each other Christmas wishes and rose for what they thought would be the final time this year. But on Wednesday night they flew into Canberra again — some more willingly than others — for an urgent sitting on Thursday to consider legislation designed to soften massive electricity prices hikes being forecast for the next two years. Treasury had warned that electricity prices were set to rise a painful 56 percent over the coming two years, over and above the price hikes Australians have already endured, due mostly to the global shocks caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

'The solution is electrification': Labor secures Greens support for power bill relief
A suburb-wide household electrification pilot for the ACT, championed by independent senator David Pocock, is set to be considered as part of the plan to be developed between Labor and the Greens in the lead up to the May budget.

Energy giants are making billions, are price caps enough?
Federal parliament is set to pass the government's caps on coal and gas, with the hope that sometime next year it will start saving households money. But with estimates that multinational fossil fuel corporations could take away a whopping 140 billion dollar gross profit this year, is there more we could be doing to bring prices down?

Australia’s coal exporters made windfall profit of $45bn last year, report estimates
Coal exporters from Australia reaped as much as $45bn in windfall profit in the 2021-22 year, with a similar bonanza likely this year, offering governments a budgetary boon for those willing to grasp it, the Australia Institute has said. In a report released on Thursday, the institute’s economists said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent disruption to energy markets alone had delivered between $13bn and $23bn of gains to coalminers. All up, those gains totalled between $39bn and $45bn.

Sydney-Melbourne railway could be affordably upgraded to slash travel times to six hours, expert says
The Sydney to Melbourne train journey could be slashed from 11 hours down to just six, and at a fraction of the cost of high-speed rail plans, if sections of the track were upgraded for medium-speed rail. While a high-speed rail line would take decades to build, laying just 200km of new, straighter track to replace an existing 250km stretch of steam-age railway would deliver a quicker service within four years, according to Wollongong University associate professor Philip Laird.

Climate activist Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco reveals why she was prepared to risk jail time
In her first interview since being released from prison, Coco recalls how bushfires three years ago sparked her epiphany.

Twitter suspends account that monitors flight paths of Elon Musk’s private jet
Twitter has suspended an account that monitors the flight paths of a private jet owned by the social media giant’s new boss, Elon Musk. On Wednesday morning, the page for the account, @ElonJet, said “Account suspended”, adding: “Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules.” The account was run by Jack Sweeney, a Florida college student and aviation enthusiast who created a Twitter bot to track the locations of private jets owned by Musk and other prominent figures including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and the billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.