Forrest calls for ‘plastic tax’ as global treaty to end plastic pollution negotiated

Australian businessman Andrew Forrest has called for a “plastic tax” as more than 175 countries - including Australia - negotiate a legally binding global treaty to end plastic pollution in Busan, South Korea.

A “polymer premium” applied as a small price per tonne on plastic production could be used to fund waste management and further research as well as cleaning up past pollution, Forrest wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Environmental group, WWF Australia, said the treaty was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a global solution to the worsening crisis, with plastic pollution expected to triple by 2040. Kate Noble, WWF plastic policy manager, said:

Plastic pollution is a global scourge but its impact across Oceania - a large continent that is predominantly oceans, and home to some of the world’s most incredible biodiversity and pristine marine environments - is particularly horrific.

WWF has urged governments to include explicit text in the treaty to ban and phase out the most harmful plastic products, mandatory product design requirements to ensure remaining products are safe and easy to reuse and recycle, funding and mechanisms for strengthening the treaty over time.

Negotiations conclude on 1 December.

NSW’s forecast power shortfall reduced but conditions remain ‘tight’

Earlier this morning, we noted that the Australian Energy Market Operator had issued an alert for a pretty big potential supply gap in NSW on Wednesday afternoon, and it was seeking a response from the market.

Well, it has received some of that desired response. So instead of 1700 megawatts (about the size of the now closed Liddell power station when it was having a good day), the forecast supply gap has been cut to 351MW.

And instead of an eight-hour stint when supply might not meet demand (aka “blackouts”), the period has shrunk to five hours from 4pm (Aedt) to 9pm. Aemo said in a statement:

High temperatures and strong electricity demand, combined with some generation outages, are causing tight electricity supply forecasts in New South Wales tomorrow and Wednesday afternoon.

“Aemo has alerted the energy industry and is working with power station operators and transmission businesses to boost electricity availability,” adding that if the market’s response is inadequate, it will take “actions” to ensure supply.

And, as we noted, Queensland also faces “tight electricity reserves” on Wednesday afternoon. Hopefully they don’t get tighter too.

NSW holding off any official call for power use reduction as mercury climbs

As noted in an earlier post, the electricity grid in parts of eastern Australia faces strains this week as a low- to severe-intensity heatwave sweeps eastwards.

NSW’s energy minister Penny Sharpe told a media conference in Sydney (mostly about the fire dangers of lithium batteries) that the “first thing” is for people to take care of themselves in the coming heat. (Parts of western Sydney are expected to reach 38C-39C tops tomorrow and Wednesday.)

You should drink water, you should check in on neighbors, and you should think about whether you need to walk out in the middle of the day in the beating hot sun.

Sharpe, though, said the Australian Energy Market Operator was making the call on strains to the power grid although “we’re obviously keeping a close eye on it”.

While not giving “any official advice at this point,” the minister said people consider “on really hot days” whether every single light needed to be in the house or whether air conditioner really needed to be set at 19C say.

There are some big gaps for Aemo to fill, though, so we’ll be watching closely too.

Meanwhile, fire danger risks in NSW will be elevated in some regions early this week as the mercury climbs. The likelihood of light winds and the fact the landscape hasn’t dried out - yet - will spare the state more severe fire conditions this time around.

Mis- and disinformation bill withdrawn in the Senate

Just earlier this morning, the government’s mis- and disinformation bill was officially withdrawn in the Senate.

The opposition leader Peter Dutton welcomed the move in a post to X, saying this is “a win for free speech for our democracy”. He also called on Labor to “rule out bringing this legislation back, now or after the next election.”

Nationals senator Matt Canavan wrote that it was “the most anti-democratic law ever introduced to the Australian parliament.”

Greens senator David Shoebridge also wrote on X that it was a good outcome:

Good outcome. Now do the social media age ban.

Hanson-Young: ‘You’re asking us to ram through a piece of legislation without any evidence’

A theme of hearing on the proposed under-16s social media ban is around the short timeframe the government is expecting the Senate to review the bill. Today’s hearing is just three hours long and is the only examination of the legislation.

The comms department’s deputy secretary James Chisholm was asked by the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young why the government had not released the review into the Online Safety Act given it goes to many of the issues that the age ban bill aims to address.

Chisholm said the timing of the release was a matter for the minister.

Hanson-Young said:

This is why this is such a joke. A piece of legislation is being rammed through that relates directly to the issues that were raised in this review.... You’ve just said a whole lot of recommendations. It’s been kept secret from the public, secret from the Senate, and you’re asking us to ram through a piece of legislation without any evidence.

Arrests at Rising Tide protest ‘should be of deep concern to all’, civil liberties group says

The NSW Council of Civil Liberties says an “extraordinary” number of people were arrested at the Riding Tide climate protest in Newcastle yesterday, because of “draconian anti-protest laws” in the state.

Almost 200 people were arrested yesterday after pausing activity at the Newcastle port – the world’s biggest coal port.

In a statement, the council president Timothy Roberts said the NSW government’s “efforts to stop protests and criminalise and demonise protestors at all costs should be of deep concern to all”.

Where to deploy police resources is a decision for the NSW government and the police. They have chosen to use these resources against peaceful protestors in defence of the fossil fuel industry.

Paddling a kayak in the Port of Newcastle is not an offence, people do it every day safely without hundreds of police officers. A decision was made to protect the safe passage of the vessels over the protection of people exercising their democratic rights to protest.

We are living in extraordinary times. Our democracy will not irrevocably be damaged in one foul swoop - it will be a slow bleed, a death by a thousand tranches of repressive legislation, and by thousands of arrests of people standing up in defence of their civil liberties.

Watch: More from the under-16s social media ban inquiry

Here’s another video from the inquiry this morning into the bill to ban under-16s from social media.

Questions over which platforms will be included in social media ban for children

The digital industry group Digi says it is a “serious flaw” in the under-16s social media ban bill that it’s not clear which platforms it will apply to, including YouTube.

The detail over which platforms are covered is determined by the minister through legislative instrument, and allows a lot of discretion over what is included and what is not.

Digi’s policy director Dr Jennifery Duxbury said this was a serious flaw in the bill:

The bill doesn’t make it clear who is in or out of scope. And that’s, you know, to us, that is a really serious flaw in the bill, but it is absolutely unclear who is in or out, and we don’t know what criteria will be used to determine these exemptions.

The explanatory memorandum suggests that some services will be out of scope, but that will occur until a future date, and that date is unknown.

Platforms can’t provide teens mental health support, inquiry told

Here’s a video from the inquiry into the under-16s social media age ban this morning:

Industry group cops heat at inquiry in absence of social media platforms

Meta, TikTok, X and other platforms are not at the inquiry on the social media ban for under-16s today, so industry group Digi is copping the heat from politicians on their behalf. Here’s a flavour of that today.

Liberal senator Sarah Henderson:

Grieving families such as Matt and Kelly Howard, whose daughter Charlotte took her own life, and Rob Evans, whose daughter Liv was only 15 when she died, have been campaigning for social media age limits. Can you please explain to those parents and to other parents who’ve lost their children why you are right and they are wrong?

Digi managing director Sunita Bose:

These are absolutely tragic events, and as a parent of two myself, I cannot imagine anything worse. We must remain focused on how we protect young people online without cutting them off from the connection and the mental health support that previous witnesses have discussed today, we do this by teaching young people how to safely navigate online spaces, how to seek help.

One of the risks we’re concerned about is that while the mainstream digital platforms are far from perfect, we have to remember that these are the services that do have safety guard rails. They do work with the eSafety Commissioner, and in young people’s determination to get online and to connect with others, there is a risk that they will go to darker, less safe, less regulated online spaces where they won’t be able to seek that help, and they may be unwilling to share with a parent that they’ve done so.

Earlier (see post), Nationals leader David Littleproud said it was “dangerous to conflate digital ID” with the under-16s social media ban.

But Nationals senator Matt Canavan has argued in a post to X that there is “not an OUTRIGHT ban on social media companies retaining the information they collect to verify your age” in the bill. He wrote:

Keep in mind, ALL users will have to verify the age even though the ban only applies to children under 16. But as long as they have your “consent”, they can use your identity docs for other purposes or even to disclose to others.

There are some constraints, the consent must be voluntary, informed, current, specific and unambiguous. But this could possibly be just a checkbox that many will not understand the implications of.

Inquiry hears that children will work around social media ban, as concerns raised about age assurance and privacy

The committee examining the under-16s social media ban bill has heard that children will work around the ban, and it will mean every Australian will have to have their age checked.

Project Rockit CEO Lucy Thomas said requiring age assurance for all Australians raises privacy concerns.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan warned that age assurance could potentially push older people off social media if forced to grapple with age assurance technology.

Sunita Bose, managing director of Digi – the industry group for the platforms including Meta and Snapchat, said the assurance process would affect everyone:

To verifiably know whether someone is 14 or 40, young people and adults alike will need to take regular actions like providing an ID, an image of their face, or link to myGovID.

The community needs to be consulted on their willingness to provide more personal information every time they use one of these services.

Thorpe and Faruqi to ask Senate to investigate alleged racism and sexism in parliament

Overnight, Josh Butler reported exclusively that Lidia Thorpe and Mehreen Faruqi will ask the Senate’s procedure committee to investigate racism and sexism in federal parliament – raising concerns about “white privilege” and how women of colour are treated in politics.

Thorpe and Faruqi are expected to give a press conference on this at 11am AEDT – we’ll bring you the latest on this shortly.

In the meantime, you can read Josh’s story in full below:

Nationals leader on Newcastle protests: ‘I actually think we should just ignore them’

Speaking to Sky News, David Littleproud also weighed in on the Rising Tide protests in Newcastle and said “everyone has to be angry these days and have a cause”.

I get it, but there’s a way to do it … Do they really think that that’s wise to go and put themselves in harm’s way, in front of a tanker and think that … makes a point? I actually think we should just ignore them …

Littleproud said he understood “we’re all moving towards that [energy] transition” but argued “you can’t destroy [the] economy on that journey”.

Resources minister says Greens and Coalition are ‘populist, vote-grabbing’

The resources minister, Madeleine King, spoke with ABC RN earlier this morning about the critical minerals production tax incentive bill, due to be put to parliament today – it doesn’t have majority support, so why put it forward?

She said it’s about putting forward the position of government and industry, and “if Peter Dutton and the Coalition choose not to support the resources sector, well people should know about that.”

The important thing about this incentive is that it drives further investment into an emerging industry that does face a lot of challenges from international markets. So people, whether it be the Greens, the independents, but particularly the Coalition – who really should know better – need to step up and [give broad] support.

As the West Australian reports, the incentive would refund 10% of the processing and refining costs for projects that start between 2027/28 and 2039/40 – for up to 10 years per project – plus tax credits of $2 per kg made available for the production of renewable hydrogen from 2027/28.

The minister also took aim at the Greens and Coalition amid the final sitting week, labelling them “populist, vote-grabbing parties”.

We’re trying to do the right thing for the Australian community, whereas they want to block this to be able to put out another TikTok … It’s absolutely disgraceful.

Plibersek questioned on coal approvals and Newcastle protest

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, spoke with Sunrise earlier about the number of coal mine developments or extensions approved under her watch, Responding, Plibersek, said:

Well, I’ve approved 10 times more renewable energy projects than coal projects – 65 renewable energy projects. I’m the first environment minister to stop a coalmine, because of the impact it could have had on water going on to the Great Barrier Reef …

She turned to the Rising Tide protests in Newcastle, and said:

Of course, in Australia you have a right to peacefully and safely express your view. But if you’re breaking the law, if you’re endangering others, if you’re diverting police resources, then I think you need to face the consequences of that …

O’Neil says government supporting families of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles

The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, also spoke with ABC News Breakfast this morning and was asked about the Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, who are among six tourists who have died from a suspected methanol poisoning event in Laos.

Asked how the government would be supporting both families, O’Neil said:

This is an unmitigated tragedy and I’m a parent – it’s a rite of passage for young people to travel throughout Asia and have fun, and it’s just heartbreaking what’s happened here.

I really want to extend my condolences to that family. Dfat is working with the two families here and I know we’ll be doing everything we can as a government to support them both in the grieving that they need to do here, and in the work that they’re trying to do to get some of the problems they see that have occurred overseas addressed.

O’Neil said the government has “undertaken education campaigns around methanol poisoning” and would continue to “work with the families to see what we can do”.

Australia urged to do more on climate crisis as activists rue trillion-dollar Cop29 funding gap

Here’s the latest from Adam Morton this morning, who is in Baku for Cop29: The Australian government has been urged to “step up” and do more to address the climate crisis, after it played a role in a contentious deal on global finance to help poor countries deal with the problem.

You can read the full story below:

Eastern Australia heatwave could strain power grid

The early-season heatwave that began searing southern Australia late last week is making its way east, as forecast a few days ago.

Inland parts of Sydney, for instance, are in the midst of a week of days with temperatures reaching the 30C. Penrith is expected to reach 38C tomorrow and 39C on Wednesday as the heat peaks.

It looks like the power grid will be strained as air conditioners are switched on and stay on. The crunch, for NSW at least, has shifted back to Wednesday from Tuesday.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has forecast a so-called level 3 lack of reserve for the state over a considerable period on Wednesday, from 12.30pm Aedt to 8.30pm.

“The maximum load (other than interruptible loads) forecast to be interrupted is 1731 megawatts” at 3.30pm, local time, it said.

Aemo is seeking a market response.

Aemo can intervene if the market doesn’t respond, but it hasn’t set the time for an intervention. It may need to order generators to switch (assuming they can) or seek big power users (eg Tomago aluminium smelter) to switch off.

Queensland, as it happens, is also facing some lower level (2) lack of reserve forecasts for stints of Wednesday afternoon. Those alerts from Aemo suggest the northern state won’t have much electricity spare (if any) to sending to its southern neighbour.

Growing pushback within Liberal party to social media ban, Nine newspapers report

As we reported earlier, several Nationals MPs have raised concerns about the under-16s social media ban, citing potential unintended consequences and the lack of a proper Senate inquiry into the world-first legislation. The Nine newspapers have also reported a growing pushback inside the Liberal party too.

The Nationals senator Matt Canavan, one of the first Coalition MPs to raise public issue with the bill, said the “inquiry” into the bill – lasting just a few hours today – was a “joke.” He wrote on X this morning:

The ban on social media for under 16s is subject to just a 5 day senate inquiry. It’s a bad joke but I will be at the 3 hour senate hearing this morning from 9am.

The hearing will feature witnesses including youth mental health advocates, the Digi group representing tech companies, and officials from the communications department.

It begins at 9am and we’ll bring you more when it kicks off.

Lambie says fast-tracked Senate inquiry on social media age ban is ‘shameful’

Jacqui Lambie also weighed in on the under-16 social media ban, and described the fast-tracked Senate inquiry as “shameful”.

There is a Senate inquiry on that this morning, which is shameful in itself. I mean the bloody thing doesn’t start for 12 months, and yet they’re trying to ram something else down our throats instead of getting it right.

So I will be sitting in that inquiry this morning, I’ll be very interested to see the unintended consequences that are coming out of that.

Lambie said it was “really quite difficult up here at the moment between the Greens and the Coalition, to be brutally honest with you”.

‘Yes, we’re going to support you. And then a day beforehand says, no, we’re not [going to support you] on certain things.’ I mean, it’s getting beyond the point of ridiculous.

I don’t know whether we’ll sit again either in the new year, so if the Coalition and the Greens want to go [away] empty handed and go, ‘well, actually we could have supported this, but we didn’t’ just to make things difficult, then good luck with their votes.

Lambie says Senate a ‘mess’ this week

Senator Jacqui Lambie says that it is a “mess” in the Senate, as the final sitting week of parliament begins. She spoke on the Today Show earlier, and said:

[The government has] just got a list of stuff, you’ve got no idea really what they’re going to list each day. It’s an absolute mess up in the Senate, to be honest with you. But I will say one thing – we need that housing deal ticked off because people need roofs over their heads. So if anything, can they please get that done?

Last week, Labor said it was looking at gambling ad response this year

Just quickly circling back to Clare O’Neil on RN talking about gambling advertising and the government’s long-awaited response to the Peta Murphy report – she said the government’s plans to tackle gambling ads would come “early next year”.

It’s worth recalling that just days ago, communications minister Michelle Rowland – in whose patch the gambling rules sit – said the government was looking at a response this year. What a difference a week makes.

Yesterday the lines out of the government were only that the legislation wouldn’t arrive this week. Of course, this is the final sitting week of the year, so no legislation this week means no legislation being introduced into parliament this year – but the government could detail its legislation in a press conference or media release outside of parliament. Rowland unveiled the broad details of the under-16s social media ban, for instance, in a press conference with Anthony Albanese when parliament was not sitting.

On ABC Afternoon Briefing on 19 November, last Tuesday, host Greg Jennett asked Rowland:

Time is, of course, running out this year. Michelle Rowland, you’ve got this bill to negotiate, social media ban for teens and the outstanding online gambling advertising restrictions. You did promise a, quote, comprehensive response this year. Will that be done by legislation this calendar year?

Rowland responded:

We are aiming to have it done this year.

Jennett went on to ask if it would be legislation, as opposed to codes of practice. Rowland responded:

Well, we’ll take advice on that, but the government has made no decisions in this regard. We’ve been consulting widely and it is our intention to reach a conclusion on that as expeditiously as possible.

Obviously, this is an area that has been of high concern, but we do want to make sure our response is comprehensive and robust and we get it right.

Will Greens block housing bills in the Senate this week?

If it comes down to it, are the Greens willing to block these bills in the Senate this week? Larissa Waters said:

Well, we’ll now have those discussions about what we should do and what will best help renters and people who are trying to get a roof over their heads.

But we’re just extraordinarily disappointed that the prime minister seems to have dug his heels in and won’t help people in the way that they need helping.

Pocock says Labor’s housing bills are ‘important pieces of the puzzle’

Moving to housing, David Pocock was asked if the Greens should be supporting the government’s legislation.

He said most Australians would support what the Greens are proposing in principle – more housing being delivered. But he says the bills are “important pieces of the puzzle”.

In a housing crisis, I think we have two bills that are not going to solve everything but are important pieces of the puzzle … These are really good steps forward. And so if the government’s willing to amend the legislation, I think it’s a real goal.

Pocock on social media ban: ‘I really support this in principal … but this seems like policy on the run’

On the under-16 social media age ban, David Pocock is still undecided on whether he will support the bill. What more does he need to know? He told ABC RN:

I’m keen to see how they propose it’s actually going to work. Again, I really support this in principle. This is something that we have to confront as a society … But this seems like policy on the run …

This is a big problem, but we actually need an ecosystem approach. We need a ban to go hand-in-hand with the digital duty of care … And what I’ve seen in the misinformation and disinformation bill, which has now been been shelved, is an unwillingness to actually tackle some of the root causes of social media harm, and that is around the algorithm, where these big social media companies don’t want us to know how they’re actually running their businesses.

Asked about the three-day inquiry, and whether you can adequately look into these issues in such a short amount of time, Pocock said: “No, I don’t think you can”.

The usual process is that the questions you don’t get to ask, you then put on notice. It’s pretty hard seeing how you get questions back on notice if the committee’s meant to report tomorrow.

O’Neil on the surviving Bali Nine inmates

Moving to other news, Clare O’Neil was asked about reports that negotiations between Australia and Indonesia are ongoing regarding the surviving Bali Nine members being repatriated to Australia.

O’Neil said she doesn’t have any further information on the negotiations:

What I do know is that the prime minister has made a request, as many previous prime ministers have made, that mercy be shown to these young Australians.

They committed a horrible crime, a crime that hurt lots of people, and no one should lose sight of that. But [they’ve] now spent 20 years in Indonesian jails, two of them have already paid with their life. So I think it’s absolutely appropriate that the prime minister do as previous prime ministers have done, and advocate for those people who are Australian citizens who are stuck overseas.

Does the delay on gambling ad restrictions have anything to do with the demands of lobbyists?

Clare O’Neil said it wasn’t about lobbying, but “about making sure that we get this right”.

And the minister has pointed to previous attempts to scale back gambling advertising that have actually resulted in more gambling advertising. This is a delicate area, and we’ve got to get the balance right, and that’s what the minister is seeking to do.

Gambling ad legislation expected ‘early next year’: O’Neil

The government is not planning to introduce legislation around gambling ad restrictions this year, despite previous commitments.

Clare O’Neil was asked about this – and why the government can pull legislation together on social media so quickly, but not this, despite the report being handed down nearly 18 months ago – and responded:

These complicated matters, they just are. You know, if this was a really simple problem to fix, then it would have been fixed a long time ago.

I would say our government deserves credit for stepping up and saying we’re going to take action on this, and the minister [Michelle Rowland] is doing what is appropriate, which is diligently working through what the proposals will look like.

O’Neil said the government is “fiercely committed to making sure that this occurs”.

The minister is working with people, experts, stakeholders, others who will be affected by this legislation, and the government has said will come forward with … proposals early next year.

O’Neil asked if government has failed to find workable solution on housing

Q: You’re blaming the Greens for blocking progress on housing, but isn’t this a failure on the government’s part to find a workable solution? You don’t have the majority in the Senate, isn’t getting their approval or the approval of the Coalition part of your job in delivering more houses?

Housing minister Clare O’Neil said the government had “tried to work with parties around the parliament to address these issues” – and again accused the Greens of “consistently coming in to back in Peter Dutton’s approach on these things”.

O’Neil said the time of negotiation and conversations was six months ago, saying:

The Greens are going to go to the next election either as an ineffective party of protests that has blocked and delayed action on things they say are important to them, or a party that lets the government get on with addressing the housing needs of Australia.

Is the eSafety commissioner concerned about role of Musk in Trump administration?

Julie Inman Grant was also asked about the role that X owner Elon Musk is going to play in the incoming Trump administration? She responded:

Well, my job is not to be concerned with what Elon Musk is doing, unless he is hurting the safety of Australians, and that is why we will continue to regulate without fear or favour and to make sure that we’re safeguarding Australians online safety, and that has always been my focus.

More on the NSW housing announcement: larger proposals to get fast-tracked

Continuing from our last post: the rezoning will come into effect on Wednesday and development applications will then be able to be lodged to build new homes. Proposals that are more than $60m will get fast-tracked.

The government also has a 3% affordable housing rate for all new developments across the eight stations, though it is higher in some areas. In a statement, Paul Scully said:

The finalisation of the TOD Accelerated Precincts means development applications can be submitted and assessed, so that housing construction can start as quickly as possible. Elements of the planning pathway have been streamlined for the assessment of proposals in these locations, which will allow for greater speed without compromising the quality of the assessment or the final result.

We made an election commitment to rebalance Sydney’s housing growth around existing transport infrastructure and today we’re delivering the blueprint for those homes.