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Shadow energy minister didn’t tour any renewables facilities during US fact-finding trip
Dan Tehan, the shadow minister for energy and emissions reduction, said he did not tour any renewable energy facilities during his fact-finding trip to the US.
Tehan was asked about his trip on RN Breakfast, during which he said he discovered a “nuclear renaissance”. Host Barbara Miller asked:
Nuclear makes up a bit less than 20% of the US is power generation there. Renewables, slightly more. Did you tour any renewables facilities?
“I didn’t,” Tehan replied.
The shadow minister said he spoke with nuclear experts and said the “clear” message was that nuclear can work “side by side with renewables”.
It just makes absolute sense for us to enable nuclear to be part of our energy equation going forward, especially given the fact that it is emissions neutral.
ShareKrishani Dhanji
Several boats in the Gaza flotilla have been intercepted and boarded
The Global Sumud Flotilla reports that several of its boats have been intercepted and boarded by Israeli naval forces.
Their social media states their cameras are offline and communications have been intercepted. Their live tracking and livestream pages are both currently down.
We have reached out with two Australians who Guardian Australia spoke to yesterday and are waiting to hear back.
There are six Australian on board the more than 40 ship flotilla which has been trying to get humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Follow the latest updates on our Middle East live blog:
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Updated at 23.43 CEST
Australian aboard humanitarian flotilla describes experience as Israel begins intercepting boats
Juliet Lamont, an Australian on board a vessel in the pro-Palestinian flotilla off the coast of Gaza, described her experience as Israel began intercepting some boats.
Lamont spoke to RN Breakfast
I can feel that my heart is going like the clappers, and I should be feeling, you know, normally your body gives yourself those signals, so you should be freaking out. But I mean, I feel remarkable. Calm. I’ve never been in, I’ve never been intercepted.
Oh, they’re coming again. Sorry, I’m going to have to probably put my hands up.
Lamont said the humanitarian group had “the knowledge that we’re doing the right thing, and that’s a really fortifying and kind of a beautiful thing, really”.
The collective decision with the flotilla is we would go ahead regardless, that we are not going to bow and cower to their demands because this is not an illegal thing. To deliver humanitarian aid to a country that is suffering a genocide is not an illegal thing to do.
A screen grab from a live video shows the crew of a Gaza-bound vessel putting their hands up as they are intercepted by Israeli security forces. Photograph: Global Sumud Flotilla/ReutersShare
Updated at 23.32 CEST
Good morning, and happy Thursday. Nick Visser here to take over the blog for the morning. Let’s get to it.
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A third of big companies paid no tax in financial year before last
Patrick Commins
Nearly three in 10 large companies paid no tax in the financial year before last, according to the Australian Taxation Office’s latest corporate tax transparency report.
Michelle Sams, an assistant commissioner at the ATO, said “we know there are legitimate reasons why some companies pay little or no tax”.
Firms may have reported a loss for the financial year, or used tax offsets or losses from previous years to reduce their taxable incomes.
But Sams could offer little further insight into whether there were too few or too many businesses which earned more than $100m but paid no tax in 2023-24.
I don’t think that’s something you can answer in absolute terms, there is no right number.
What we can do is assure you that we have dedicated programs of work looking at these taxpayers, and we have high levels of confidence that most large businesses pay the right amount of tax.
And where we see little or no tax paid we pay particularly close attention.
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Kelly Burke
Net zero isn’t working and nuclear ‘can replace gas and coal’, Tehan says
Tehan said Labor’s policy of net zero wasn’t working and the opposition faced the challenge of presenting an alternative to the Australian people – and to colleagues within his own party such as Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Andrew Hastie, who has threatened to quit cabinet if the party does not dump net zero.
“No one is saying … that renewables shouldn’t be part of the mix,” he said, when asked about Australia’s potential for solar and wind power.
But what we all know is that you need baseload power as well … and what nuclear can do is provide that [baseline] over time. It can replace gas and coal.
Tehan disagreed with his former party colleague Mathias Cormann, secretary general of the OECD, who recently said Australia was on track to meet its renewable targets, despite the recent flatlining of emissions.
That is Mathias’s view and he’s doing a very good job over in France at the OECD. What I’m dealing with is the reality here on the ground … and we’re hearing from a range of experts that that 2030 target won’t be met.
What I want to know is, when it comes to actually addressing emissions reduction, when you’ve got a proven technology, why won’t you even consider it, when it comes to nuclear.
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Dan Tehan hails global ‘nuclear renaissance’
Kelly Burke
The Liberal’s shadow minister for energy and emissions reduction, Dan Tehan, has put nuclear energy back on the agenda, after returning from a fact-finding trip in the US where he said he discovered a “nuclear renaissance”.
When asked by Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7.30 last night if he intended to replace Peter Dutton’s former nuclear policy with a new nuclear one, Tehan said he had briefed his party colleagues on Monday and a policy was still being formulated.
Dan Tehan, shadow minister for energy and emissions reduction. Photograph: Nicole Cleary/The Guardian
“Having seen this nuclear renaissance, and especially the technological advances taking place, the use of super computing to drive this technology, the use of AI to drive this technology, I have no doubt that my colleagues, like I do, see very much a future for nuclear as part of our energy mix here in Australia,” he said.
“And I have no doubt that the US government would love to, like they have with the United Kingdom, enter into some sort of agreement with us, so like we are with nuclear-powered submarines, we’ve got extensive cooperation between the US, the UK and Australia, they would like to do the same when it comes to civil nuclear energy.”
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best overnight stories and then Nick Visser will pick up the reins.
The Liberal’s shadow minister for energy and emissions reduction, Dan Tehan, told ABC’s 7.30 last night that the Coalition could reboot the nuclear energy policy as he hailed a “nuclear renaissance” after a visit to the US. More coming up.
Nearly three in 10 large companies paid no tax in the financial year before last, according to figures released by the Australian Taxation Office this morning. Big companies paid more than $100bn in tax for the second year in a row, although that was slightly down from the previous year. The big tech firms paid tax equal to less than 2% of their revenue. More details coming up.
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