11 May 2021
The Morrison government has delivered another federal budget that offers little support for Australia’s rapidly emerging clean energy sector, choosing instead to double down on its ‘gas fired’ agenda and pay major emitters to reduce their emissions.
It’s another budget from the Coalition that will channel further public funds to the fossil fuel sector, particularly helping to grow the gas industry while letting major emitters off the hook, while almost entirely ignoring burgeoning wind, solar and storage technologies and entirely ignores electric vehicles.
The government’s second post-Covid budget can largely be characterised as more taxpayer support for the fossil industry, as well as allocating more money for preparing for the symptoms of climate change.
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CME welcomes Federal Budget focus on future of mining and resources sector
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) welcomes measures announced in the 2021-22 Federal Budget to encourage investment in mining and resources, help develop the sector’s workforce of the future and foster the use of technology to deliver lower emissions energy.
CME Chief Executive Paul Everingham said Australia’s stronger than previously expected economic position highlighted not just the nation’s ability to negotiate the COVID-19 pandemic but also the contributions of the mining and resources sector.
Budget documents showed higher-than-expected iron ore prices resulted in a resurgence of Australia’s terms of trade, and increased company tax receipts of $3.4 billion this year and $7 billion over forward estimates.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Source: AAP/Daniel Pockett.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will deliver his third budget on Tuesday evening in Parliament, marking yet another significant turn in the government’s debt levels since he declared the budget was ‘back in the black’ two years ago.
Despite Australia’s strong economic recovery from the pandemic, tomorrow’s budget is shaping up to be one of significant government investment. The Treasurer has indicated the government will not pull back on government spending, even though the budget’s underlying cash deficit this fiscal year will be $167 billion, according to Deloitte.
The government has already announced various budget measures ahead of its official release tomorrow, and here’s what we know will be included so far.
Creative carbon capture
Last week, the Australian Government pledged half a billion dollars for “clean” energy projects, including $264 million on “carbon capture and storage” (CCS).
This involves capturing emissions from power stations and factories and then burying them.
However, the Climate Council has stated that CCS is “extremely expensive and cannot deliver zero emissions”.
There are, of course, faster, simpler and cheaper ways to capture and store carbon. Firstly, plant more trees, and secondly, stop cutting down existing ones.
A recent study in Science magazine states that globally, a 25 per cent increase in forested area could store more than 200 gigatonnes of additional carbon at maturity. Such a change has the potential to store an equivalent of 25 per cent of the current atmospheric carbon pool.
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