1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Bunjelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres 5 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the 6 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present. 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. Happy Monday. 8 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 3: It's Monday. 9 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 2: It's the fifteenth of May. I'm Sam and the Albanezy 10 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 2: government is set to approve its first new coal mine 11 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 2: since taking power. The news comes just a week after 12 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 2: Environment Minister Tania Pliversek canceled two coal projects after their 13 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,480 Speaker 2: applications lapsed. So where's this government at with fossil fuel 14 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 2: projects and what's its plan moving forward. We're going to 15 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 2: let you know in the deep die. But first the headlines. 16 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 2: Up to half a million people have been evacuated from 17 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 2: the world's largest refugee camp in eastern Bangladesh because of 18 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,839 Speaker 2: a cyclone destined for the region. Cyclone Mocha has already 19 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 2: passed through parts of neighboring Myanmar, with the un warning 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 2: it could be the worst cyclone in the region since 21 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 2: twenty ten. 22 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 3: Virgin Australia passengers will now be able to track their 23 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 3: baggage under a new trial program rolled out this month. 24 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 3: The tracking system is the first to be introduced by 25 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 3: an Australian airline and began on flights between Sydney and 26 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 3: Brizzy on Thursday. It will send push notifications to customers 27 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 3: when their baggage has been received after check in and 28 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 3: once it's at its destination, and it's set to be 29 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 3: expanded to all major Australian cities by the middle of 30 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 3: the year. 31 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 2: Sweden has taken out the sixty seventh Eurovision Song Contest, 32 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:51,559 Speaker 2: with singer songwriter Loreene winning the title for the second time. 33 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 2: That makes her only the second person and the first 34 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 2: woman to win Eurovision twice. Finland and Israel rounded out 35 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 2: the top three, with a Stralian entrance Voyager finishing in 36 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 2: a ninth place. 37 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 3: And to Monday good News for You. Wind was the 38 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 3: highest used energy source in the UK during the first 39 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 3: three months of the year. According to new data. It's 40 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 3: the first time wind has provided the greatest share of 41 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 3: energy in any UK quarter period. It was part of 42 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 3: a renewable energy portfolio that made up forty percent of 43 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 3: the UK's electricity generation from January to March. 44 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 2: We heard last week that the federal government was set 45 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 2: to approve its first coal mines since it was elected. 46 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 3: That is big news, especially because climate was like the 47 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 3: topic at the last election and Labor came out with 48 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 3: a stronger climate policy but didn't go as far as 49 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 3: saying that it wouldn't approve new coal mines. So tell 50 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 3: me about this project that was approved. 51 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 2: So it's the Isaac River coal mine in Queensland's Bowen 52 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 2: Basin and it's expected to produce about five hundred thousand 53 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,959 Speaker 2: tons of what's called metallurgical coal for five years. 54 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 3: And what does that mean. 55 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 2: Metallurgical coal or coking coal is typically like an easier 56 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 2: way to say it. Yeah, let's call it coking coal. 57 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 2: It's typically used to make steel as opposed to being 58 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 2: burnt for electricity. 59 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 3: Why was that project approved? 60 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 2: Well, essentially, the government describes the project as a small 61 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 2: mine in an active mining precinct. They say it's one 62 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 2: percent of the size of the Dini coal mine, which 63 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 2: was controversial highly and they say this mine will only 64 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 2: operate for five years. And one of the reasons the 65 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 2: government says that this mine was approved is that there 66 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 2: was no objections to it. When a new project is 67 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 2: referred to the minister, there's this ten day period where 68 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 2: the public are invited to comment and what the government 69 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 2: says is that they received no submissions in that period 70 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 2: about the project from environmental groups, but environmental groups have 71 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 2: criticized the project since it has been approved. A spokesperson 72 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 2: for the Environment Minister at Tania Plipasek said, the government 73 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 2: has to make these decisions based on facts and national 74 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 2: in environment law. 75 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 3: So you referred there to the fact that a project 76 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 3: has to be referred to the minister, who in this 77 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 3: case is Tanya plebisc It is a very complicated process 78 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 3: I found, I mean even editing pieces that we put 79 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,479 Speaker 3: up about coal mines and the approval process continues to 80 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 3: confuse me. Can you talk me through currently, what powers 81 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 3: does the minister have to make these kinds of decisions 82 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 3: to approve or to reject or to stop something from happening. 83 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 2: So at the moment, Tania pilibsc has this power to 84 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 2: evaluate projects on the basis of their environmental impacts. So 85 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 2: the minister does not consider the likely climate impacts of 86 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 2: a proposal, but rather what environmental impacts means is things 87 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 2: like biodiversity concerns such as damage to a species or habitat. Now, 88 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 2: last year, Tania Plubsec became the first environment minister to 89 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 2: reject a coal mine under these powers, and that one 90 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 2: was Clive Palmer's Central Queensland Coal Projects. 91 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 3: So in that situation, Tania Plibisec rejected the proposal from 92 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 3: Clive Palmer's company. But then last week there was this 93 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 3: situation and it was funny to watch how other news 94 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 3: outlets were reporting it because I think language is very 95 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 3: important here. Tanya Pliversec canceled two applications for other projects, 96 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 3: but she didn't necessarily reject them, right. 97 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, So those were two coal mines in Queensland, the 98 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,160 Speaker 2: Range coal Mine and the China Stone coal Mine. Now 99 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 2: that second mine I mentioned would have produced almost as 100 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 2: much coal as the controversial a Dani coal mine, and 101 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 2: in both cases what happened was the government asked for 102 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 2: more information about how the mines would impact their local environment, 103 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 2: but both mines failed to provide that information and that 104 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 2: gave Tania Pliversek the power to cancel the applications as 105 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 2: you said, Zara, it's not the same as a formal rejection, 106 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,160 Speaker 2: but it puts the mines in the situation where further 107 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 2: proposals are now quite unlikely to move forward. 108 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,360 Speaker 3: Sure, but it is more of a procedural matter than 109 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 3: it is necessarily I don't want to say ideological, but 110 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 3: more than it is an active move from Tanya Plibasec. 111 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 3: We've spoken on this pot before about some of the 112 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 3: criticisms that have been leveled against the legislation that the minister, 113 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 3: who again in this case is Tania pliparsec uses to 114 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 3: make these decisions. Has anything changed so. 115 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 2: That power comes from an act called the Environment Protection 116 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 2: and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Quite the mouth, and I know 117 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 2: how much you love acronyms are so let's call it 118 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 2: the EPBC Act. Now. In twenty twenty, there was a 119 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 2: major independent review of the EPBC Act, which is the 120 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 2: legislation in question here, and the review found that the 121 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 2: legislation was outdated and it needed some fundamental reform and 122 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 2: it recommended a new set of standards. Now, in response 123 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 2: to that, a couple of years later, in December of 124 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 2: last year, the government announced some plans to create an 125 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 2: Environment Protection agency to enforce Australia's existing environment protection laws. 126 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,840 Speaker 3: The criticism has been that the legislation that the Minister 127 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 3: has the powers to approve or reject these minds, she 128 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:06,160 Speaker 3: doesn't have to specifically consider climate impacts. Is this new 129 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 3: agency going to consider climate impacts? 130 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 2: We're a bit short on detail about what this new 131 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 2: agency will and won't be able to do. But there 132 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 2: has been a big development in this space since we 133 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 2: last spoke, in the form of the government's Emissions Reduction Bill. Now, 134 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 2: as you might remember, in that situation, some negotiations with 135 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 2: the Greens by the government resulted in a total cap 136 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 2: on emissions. 137 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 3: And that was the negotiated change to the safeguard mechanism. 138 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, and the Greens wanted the government to rule out 139 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 2: all new gas and coal projects, which the government refused 140 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 2: to do and instead they agreed on this total cap 141 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 2: for new emissions. And what's going to happen if the 142 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 2: total cap has exceeded is the Climate Change Minister Chris 143 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 2: Bowen will be required to tighten the rules on businesses 144 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 2: to ensure that it's met in the future. 145 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 3: If we take a step back, the government's major climate 146 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 3: policy at a high level is that they've committed to 147 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 3: a target to reduce emissions to forty three percent below 148 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 3: two thousand and five levels by twenty thirty. That was 149 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 3: the big election promise, that was the climate change policy 150 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 3: that was passed through. But on the other hand, they 151 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 3: are approving new coal projects. How are they planning to 152 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 3: get there to that target with new cold projects being 153 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 3: improved in the meantime. 154 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 2: So the government claims that Australia is on track to 155 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 2: build an eighty two percent renewable grid by twenty thirty. 156 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 2: But I do think it's worth noting that all of 157 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 2: this comes in the context of the latest IPCC report 158 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:33,199 Speaker 2: finding that the world's emissions reductions policies don't go far 159 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,560 Speaker 2: enough and that we're on track for three point two 160 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 2: degrees warming by the year twenty one hundred. Now that's 161 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 2: more than double the increased scientists say will lead to 162 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 2: a severe impact from warning. 163 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:48,719 Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us on the Daily OS. If you 164 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,079 Speaker 3: learned something from today's episode, don't forget to hit subscribe. 165 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 3: So there's a TVA episode waiting for you every weekday morning. 166 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 3: We'll be back again tomorrow morning, but until then, have 167 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 3: a brilliant day.