Foreign ownership of water All foreign persons (including foreign owned companies and trusts) must notify the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) by 30 July each year if the foreign person acquired a registrable water interest during the previous financial year and continues to hold that interest at 30 June. A registrable water interest means any ‘registrable …
Continue reading “Foreign ownership of assets register – annual notification of water rights”
Proposed reforms for developers in Queensland’s building and construction industry. The independent Developer Review Panel (Panel) appointed under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld) (QBCC Act) has proposed a more stringent framework for developers in the building and construction industry in Queensland. Late last year, the Panel released its discussion paper on …
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations permeate every business. While much of the commentary on ESG in the business context is often targeted at publicly listed companies, there is an increasing expectation by consumers, investors and society for companies of all sizes and across all industries to address and respond to ESG, including early-stage companies. …
Against the backdrop of a decarbonising global economy and as part of Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement (now enshrined in Commonwealth legislation), the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Safeguard Mechanism) Amendment (Reforms) Rules 2023,[1] are set to come into force on 1 July 2023. These reforms have been designed by the Federal Government to …
Continue reading “Safeguard Mechanism Reforms: what you need to know in the race to net-zero”
In 2023, both the Australian Federal and State Governments are expected to continue to increase their efforts to secure domestic supplies of coal and gas, as they attempt to address projected supply shortages, creating, as some stakeholders say, a type of ‘resource nationalism.’ For those stakeholders, operating in the Australian resources market in 2022 was …
The Australian energy sector has evolved considerably in the last 12 months. Following the Federal election, we saw Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledge Australia’s significant potential to become a renewable energy superpower and enact a series of energy policies aimed at driving the country forward to 2030 and beyond. After a period marred by a divided, …
2023 outlook The surge in demand for critical minerals is expected to continue in 2023 and beyond, as battery and automotive sectors source these minerals to facilitate global decarbonisation targets. The investment in clean energy technologies – and in turn, the demand for the minerals which make up those technologies – is expected to quadruple …
2023 outlook Predictions in 2022 of a gas shortage in Australia’s east coast energy market have extended into 2023, with continued concerns for the stability of the country’s energy supply. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) most recent gas inquiry report (released on 27 January 2023) forecasted a 30 petajoule (PJ) shortfall in the Australian east …
Continue reading “Panic at the pump: shortfalls in Australia’s gas supply and intervention measures”
Foreign investment in the Australian energy and resources sectors has long been subject to a national interest and national security test. These tests ensure that investment by foreign entities remains overall beneficial, in light of issues concerning Australia’s sovereignty. Recently, a significant increase in global cyber attacks from nation-states, state-sponsored actors and transnational cybercrime syndicates …
The Australian M&A market resurged in 2021 with record-breaking deal activity as investors turned their backs on pandemic-induced economic uncertainty. With significant amounts of deployable capital preserved as a result of cost-saving initiatives during the height of COVID-19, this trend continued strongly through the first half of 2022, but trailed off in Q3 as a …
Last year we highlighted the impact that ESG initiatives are having on financing Australia’s significant resource and renewable industry. 12 months down the track, and access to capital to fund the next wave of projects and investment continues to be one of the major challenges for Australian project operators, however the new era of reporting frameworks …
Continue reading “Money talks – reporting convergence across project finance and capital raising”
Interest in the supply of ‘green products’ has never been higher. Both from producers looking to offer a differentiated product and possibly unlock premium pricing but also from customers under pressure to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability by procuring carbon neutral or lower emissions products. The commodities market has been experiencing these shifts for some time …
Continue reading “McR ESG: spotlight on green commodities – more than unlocking customer premium”
In 2021, McCullough Robertson Lawyers, through the McCullough Robertson Foundation, committed $100,000 to establish and support the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Michael Roche Scholarship (Scholarship). The Scholarship drives innovation in the areas of environment, sustainability, or climate change within the resources and renewables industry, by supporting insightful leadership and creative vision in originating concepts …
Approximately 95% of Australia’s landmass is uninhabited, giving the impression that little competition exists for the development of this land. In reality, vast areas of the Australian continent are endowed with valuable resources that are critical for the development of new ‘clean’ technologies, and this same land is often also ideal for other competing land …
Continue reading “Overlapping resources and renewables developments – can these projects co-exist?”
Australia’s offshore wind farm journey so far The Albanese Government’s Rewiring the Nation policy has promised an investment of $20 billion towards the modernisation of the electricity grid to unlock the commercial development of large-scale renewable energy projects. With an ambitious focus to increase overall renewable energy production to 82% of the National Electricity Market generation …
Battery energy storage systems (BESS), when co-located with a solar or wind farm, provide a more reliable generation source by charging during periods of high irradiance or high wind and discharging to meet demand during periods of low irradiance or low wind. Given this, we are seeing an increasing number of new solar and wind …
Continue reading “BESS retrofit projects – as easy as plug and play?”
For 30 years, the industrial relations regulatory environment in Australia has entrusted employers and their employees to negotiate the most suitable terms and conditions for their collective circumstances. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 (Cth) (Fair Work Amendment Act) fundamentally alters this dynamic, such that conditions of employment will be set …
Continue reading “Is this the end of enterprise bargaining?”
Representing the vanguard of upcoming changes to Queensland’s resources safety laws, in late 2022, the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 (Qld) was amended to include ‘direct employee requirements’. Those changes now provide that a coal mine operator must not appoint a person to certain statutory positions unless the person is an employee of: …
Continue reading “Significant resources safety act changes in the pipeline”
Last year, we forewarned that the full impact on the Australian market of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was yet to be realised. Some months later, the full force of the conflict has been felt by most Australians, primarily through the surging costs of gas and oil. For some, an added challenge of the last 12 months …
The Federal Government has secured support from the Greens Party on its push to amend safeguard mechanism provisions to further manage emissions reported by the nation’s largest emitters as well as improve transparency regarding the impact of new projects, expected to take effect 1 July 2023. The safeguard mechanism currently operates to mandate that facilities …
Continue reading “Support for major safeguard mechanism reforms agreed”
Both the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have publicly announced that enforcement in relation to ‘greenwashing’ claims is a priority for this financial year. Consistent with that, the ACCC has recently released its report into the market review it conducted of greenwashing claims. The report is …
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The Minister for Cyber Security, Clare O’Neill MP, has announced the immediate commencement of the third and final preventative obligation under the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 (Cth) (SOCI Act), for owners of certain asset classes listed in the Security of Critical Infrastructure (Critical infrastructure risk management program) Rules (LIN 23/006) 2023 (CIRMP Rules). Responsible …
Continue reading “New positive security obligations for owners of critical infrastructure”
