Adam Morton

Australia’s most costly anti-climate policy hits taxpayers for $30m a day as calls mount to wind back fuel tax credits | Adam Morton The government will hand over $10.8bn this financial year under the scheme that makes it cheaper for miners and other industries to use diesel and petrol

I don't think anyone expects it to be wound back for farmers, but it could for multinational mining companies. More on it here www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Australian governments subsidising fossil fuel use by more than $30,000 a minute, analysis finds Australia Institute data finds state and federal subsidies for coal, gas and oil products increased 10% in past year, growing at a faster pace than funding to NDIS

Australian governments subsidising fossil fuel use by more than $30,000 a minute, analysis finds

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

an entirely fair point. will need to be both. (in my limited defence, I was already over length.)

If there was ever a moment for Australia’s shift to renewables and EVs, this is it Yes, Australia needs fuel. But the Middle East war also shows the necessity of setting ourselves up for the future

A Clear Air column banging on about some today/tomorrow issues.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This is one of my favourite facts and I really want to know what it's like to be a mantis shrimp. Sometimes I wonder how you would respond to, or describe, a new colour you have no reference for because it's not like, or a variation of, any of the colours you've ever seen and then I lie down.

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Minerals Council backed Jacqui Lambie Network & One Nation. A mining industry lobby group supported the 2025 federal election campaigns of the Jacqui Lambie Network and One Nation, according to AEC data.

⛏️ Miner donations to minor parties

The Minerals Council of Australia broke with its practice of funding only major political parties in the 2025 federal election, donating $125,000 to the Jacqui Lambie Network and $6,000 to One Nation. #politas #auspol

▶️ tasmanianinquirer.com.au/news/expandi...

The anti-climate policy blowing a hole in Labor’s budget Podcast Episode · Full Story · 8 March · 17m

A podcast on ⬆️ with @nourhaydar.bsky.social

From one perspective, it's strange this subsidy isn't getting more attention in public debate over how to cut budget spending, especially given the calls to cut support for EVs and batteries. From another it's not.

podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/t...

‘Dark, like our future’: Iranians describe scenes of catastrophe after Tehran’s oil depots bombed Residents report terror of smoke-filled city, from potentially toxic rain, air and water to food scarcity and difficulty of escape

‘Dark, like our future’: Iranians describe scenes of catastrophe after Tehran’s oil depots bombed

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

This is what ecocide looks like.

Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds Researchers identify sharp rise to about 0.35C every decade, after excluding natural fluctuations such as El Niño

A potential point of discussion for political/media/industry/diplomatic/kitchen table/whatever debate here. Likely to be relevant to most things. Evidence is pretty compelling. But who’s to say really. Carry on.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Good chat. The observation that one challenge of informed journalism is to maintain contact with almost a naivety about how things could/should be and "not to get used to it" (it = bullshit and cynicism) is correct, imo.
bsky.app/profile/iand...

Marsupials previously thought extinct for millennia discovered in New Guinea The chances of finding one mammal species thought to be lost was ‘almost zero’ and finding two is ‘unprecedented’, biologist Tim Flannery says

Was good to write a positive story, though there is plenty we don’t know about these guys and there are challenges ahead to make sure they remain not extinct. But here’s to positive news.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Albanese government rejected advice on Tasmanian salmon farming impact before passing pro-industry laws FoI documents show ministers ignored recommendation for fresh inquiry that could have reduced or paused farming

Worth some attention and further questions amid everything else, imo

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Green party wins Gorton and Denton byelection, pushing Labour to third place in blow to Keir Starmer Hannah Spencer elected as party’s first MP in northern England, as Labour sees a 25.3% drop in vote compared to 2024

Look at the Greens+Labour vote in Gorton and Denton and a Reform win should never have been in play. 1st past the post is truly mad. Be grateful for the Aus electoral system. Etc.

Not an original thought, not the main story here, but worth saying again and again.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Australia’s most costly anti-climate policy hits taxpayers for $30m a day as calls mount to wind back fuel tax credits | Adam Morton The government will hand over $10.8bn this financial year under the scheme that makes it cheaper for miners and other industries to use diesel and petrol

Column today - the fuel tax credit scheme for miners, farmers, industry is one of the 20 biggest budget costs. It's also a fossil fuel subsidy. Why are multinationals still being refunded these huge sums?

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Not to mention the large US population study showing the odds ratio effect of particulate air pollution on the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. It’s large.

Emissions from trucks and buses cost Australia $6.2bn in health effects each year, study finds Research describes children exposed to air pollution equivalent to eight cigarettes a day by attending childcare near major roads

Air pollution from trucks and buses is costing Australians about $6.2bn each year due to the health effects of exposure to vehicle exhaust, a University of Melbourne study has found.

- @petrastock.bsky.social

Imagine there would have been a great @kudelka.bsky.social cartoon about the political response to the Australian women and children in the Syrian detention camp.

Australia-US minerals deal underpinned decision to allow Alcoa to keep clearing WA forest, document reveals Document also shows US miner had been unlawfully clearing land for 15 years despite warnings from department

The Aus govt’s decision to allow Alcoa to continue clearing swathes of WA jarrah forest despite its illegal clearing practices was made in part due to a critical minerals deal reached between Australia and the Trump administration last year, a new document shows.

By @lisacox.bsky.social

Graham Readfearn steps into our climate future - podcast With extreme heat and heatwaves intensifying climate and environment correspondent Graham Readfearn tests how extreme heat affects us, our cognitive functions and our chances of survival

And you can listen to the pod here (or on usual channels etc)

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

The unbearable experience of walking in a heatwave from the future – video Graham Readfearn stepped into a climate chamber to experience what effects the heatwaves of the future will have on the human body

Also worth checking out the full video
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

REALITY TV SHOW:
Instead of Love Island, it's Heat Island

Lock up the owners and CEOs of coal oil and gas corporations in a building heated to 38 deg C. Temperature goes up just a little each day.

This is what they are doing to all our kids, who will have to live in the future that Big Oil made.

Extreme heat lab: enduring the climate of the future Graham Readfearn enters a simulation to investigate how heatwaves affect the human body

Extreme heat lab: Enduring the climate of the future
with @readfearn.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Everybody still on there convinced that they are a special flower unaffected by propaganda.

“How do you treat the afflictions of harrowing emptiness and wild vanity that made you want to be a pop star?” Why Bono can't let it lie. | Pete Paphides Get more from Pete Paphides on Patreon

Very good on this by @petepaphides.bsky.social www.patreon.com/posts/how-do...

stories by @lisacox.bsky.social @danjb.bsky.social

US mining company Alcoa hit with ‘unprecedented’ $55m penalty for illegal clearing of WA jarrah forests Environment minister says Alcoa cleared known habitat of protected species to enable bauxite mining

Also in WA:

"Watt...said he had also granted the company an exemption to clear further habitat for 18 months while the government considered a proposal for an extension of the company’s mining operations to 2045."

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Property developers spark anger over plan to clear woodland home to Baudin’s and Carnaby’s black cockatoos Proposal to replant inside a different type of protected woodland would not replicate diversity of cleared sites used by threatened cockatoo species, conservationists say

Property developers spark anger over plan to clear Perth woodland home to Baudin’s and Carnaby’s black cockatoos

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

For someone of a certain age and disposition, and maybe other people, the U2 EP has some great moments. Especially in the middle tracks. Understand the cynicism, but fuck that. Good on them.