Health News at Your Fingertips

Bit of news around on the energy front, with Origin Energy bringing forward the timing of the closure of its Eraring power plant (see Adam Morton’s piece on that earlier in the blog). At 2880 megawatts, it’s the biggest single power station in the country.

Matt Kean, NSW energy minister, is telling a media conference that the NSW government is going to spend $84m to accelerate the state’s renewable energy plans.

Kean is talking up the value of a big battery Origin plans for the site to ensure stability of the grid.

“This was not NSW’s decision,” Kean says, adding that the state’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap will be able to respond “to keep the lights on and put downward pressure on prices”.

Origin had planned to shut Eraring in 2032 and will now do so in 2025, it told the ASX today.

As we noted last week when AGL brought forward closure dates of its Bayswater and Loy Yang A coal-fired power plants in NSW and Victoria respectively, there’s a gap between the projections of the Australian Energy Market Operator’s timetable and individual companies. Origin’s announcement today closes some of that gap.

Hospital executives are appearing at Victorian state parliament’s pandemic declaration accountability and oversight committee.

Prof Andrew Way, chief executive of Alfred Health, told the inquiry the hospital had 3,100 people on the elective surgery waitlist.

Way said it was unclear if “further waves” of the virus would cause increased pressure on the state’s hospitals.

The Australian government is continuing to promote its projection of a 35% cut in emissions by 2030 – even though it has resisted calls to upgrade its formal target – amid ongoing international pressure for countries to act consistent with keeping “1.5 degrees of warming within reach”.

The joint statement after Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison’s call this morning insists that both countries are committed “to taking action this decade, with nationally determined contributions reflecting their highest possible ambition”.

The statement says the two leaders “reaffirmed the two countries’ shared commitment to drive ambitious action to address climate change and its impacts, including through implementation of the Glasgow Climate Pact and the Paris Agreement, to keep 1.5 degrees of warming within reach, strengthen adaptation and resilience, and mobilise finance”.

Then there is a statement of the targets and projections as they now stand (remember the Nationals vetoed the idea of formally increasing the 2030 target last year):

The UK has committed to reducing its emissions at least 68% by 2030 on 1990 levels and Australia has committed to reducing its emissions 26-28% by 2030 on 2005 levels, and is on track to achieve a reduction of up to 35% on 2005 levels by 2030.

The two prime ministers “agreed to continue to work together to reach net zero by 2050 and agreed to accelerate the development of technologies essential for reaching this goal through our Clean Technology Partnership, and with other countries through the Glasgow Breakthroughs, Mission Innovation and the Clean Energy Ministerial”.

Australia is hosting an Indo-Pacific Clean Energy Supply Chain Forum in mid-2022.

Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison’s statement included some criticism of China.

The two leaders “expressed grave concerns about credible reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang, and called on China to protect the rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law”.

Johnson and Morrison “underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and expressed support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations, as a member where statehood is not a prerequisite and as an observer or guest where it is”.

They also said countries should be able to exercise their maritime rights and freedoms in the South China Sea consistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and “reiterated their strong opposition to any unilateral actions that could escalate tensions and undermine regional stability and the international rules-based order, including militarisation, coercion, and intimidation”.

On Myanmar, Johnson and Morrison voiced “grave concerns” about the situation after last year’s military coup and “called for the immediate cessation of violence against civilian populations, the release of all those arbitrarily detained, including Australian Professor Sean Turnell, and unhindered humanitarian access”.

Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison “discussed their countries’ shared commitment to promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific”, according to the joint statement of their call.

They agreed that, together with partners, they would “ensure a free, open, inclusive and prosperous region”.

he statement said the UK had committed £25m to strengthen regional resilience in areas including cyberspace, state threats and maritime security.

On trade, Johnson and Morrison said they were committed to the UK/Australia free trade agreement “entering into force as soon as possible so our exporters, producers, workers, businesses and consumers can enjoy the benefits of this gold standard deal”.

There is no mention in the joint statement about concerns of Australian wine exporters that their gains will be eroded by the UK’s tax plans.

The leaders discussed critical minerals and “confirmed their commitment to a free, fair, inclusive and rules-based trade and investment environment and opposed the use of economic coercion” – without mentioning China by name.

The statement welcomed progress in the UK joining the CPTPP regional trade pact. On security and defence, Johnson and Morrison “committed to build societal awareness and resilience to foreign interference and strengthen our collective toolkits to detect, disrupt and deter current and future hostile activity by state actors, including the use of misinformation and disinformation”.

Prime minister Scott Morrison has spoken with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, this morning.

In a joint statement issued afterwards, they said they had “reaffirmed the unique relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom, built on shared values and common interests, and sustained by the deep bonds between our peoples”.

(It doesn’t sound like that would be put at risk dependent on the outcome of the Australian election, but I digress.)

The statement says the two leaders “reiterated their commitment to support a rules-based international order free from coercion, where the sovereign rights of all nations are respected and disputes are settled peacefully and in accordance with international law”.

Here is the passage of the joint Morrison/Johnson statement regarding Russia:

The prime ministers discussed the concerning situation on Ukraine’s border. They emphasised their unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.

They agreed the need for de-escalation and underscored that any further Russian incursion in Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake and have a stark humanitarian cost.

We’ll have more details of this call shortly.

Some fireworks at Senate estimates:

South Australian senator Rex Patrick is unimpressed with defence officials answering questions about the future frigates program. He says:

Please don’t try and snow job us.

Patrick disputes previous evidence given to the committee about a lack of weight problems with the ships and says:

That tells me you lied to this committee.

The chair, Eric Abetz, calls for a withdrawal of the lie claim.

Patrick is undeterred:

I’m considering a privileges committee referral … I’m not going to withdraw that and I’m happy to substantiate it.

Abetz says in that case, he will hand questions over to Kimberley Kitching.

Defence is up at estimates today, beginning with a focus on the $45.5bn future frigates project.

Sheryl Lutz of the Department of Defence says the first ship is expected to be delivered in 2031 and the final ship in 2044. Ships are usually operational one to two years after delivery.

Labor is asking questions about a report suggesting the program was complex, changing and uncertain. The Australian newspaper reported a Defence “Engineering Team Assessment” of the frigates program, undertaken last November, raised problems with the “immature” British design. The government’s contract is with shipbuilder BAE Systems.

Lutz says: “All changes are being tracked very closely.”

Labor’s Kimberley Kitching asks whether there are any problems managing the design changes.

Lutz: “There’s a defined process.”

The departmental official notes “there are a whole lot of ‘what ifs?’” but says that’s what the experts are required to do, so all issues can be managed.

Is the weight a problem? “That is now under control.”

More than a quarter of all primary healthcare nurses – nurses who work outside hospitals, including in aged care – say they are planning to leave their job, according to new national data.

As a result, Australia is at risk of not having enough suitably trained primary healthcare nurses to staff aged care homes, general practices and other primary healthcare settings in coming years, the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association says.

The survey of 1,061 primary health care nurses by Apna found:

• More than four in five (80.4%) primary healthcare nurses said they felt exhausted at work
• More than four in five (86.7%) primary healthcare nurses said they felt stressed at work
• More than three-quarters (78.8%) of primary healthcare nurses said they felt burnt out at work
• Nearly three-quarters (72.9%) of primary healthcare nurses said they worked too much
• More than three-quarters (76.4%) of primary healthcare nurses said they worked overtime
• More than one in four (28.73%) primary healthcare nurses are planning to leave their job within the next two to five years.

Apna president Karen Booth said while health authorities had recruited extra staff and provided extra resources to help with hospital admissions, they had forgotten the primary healthcare sector:

Primary health care nurses work in general practice, in our schools, in community or correctional health, in rural and remote areas without a hospital, and in the resource-stretched aged care sector.

The latest moves to bring forward booster shots and end Covid restrictions were the final straw. This has severely impacted the primary health care nurse workforce, with thousands of sick nurses furloughing, leaving an intolerable workload on those nurses who remain.

Australia’s largest coal-fired power plant, Eraring power station in New South Wales, will close in 2025 – seven years earlier than scheduled, Origin Energy has announced.

The company has given regulators the required three-and-a-half-year notification period that it plans to shut the giant black coal generator.

It said the decision reflected “the rapidly changing conditions in the national electricity market, which are increasingly not well suited to traditional baseload power stations”.

It follows the rapid rise of solar and wind power. Renewable energy now provides more than 30% of the electricity in the national grid and is forecast to reach more than two-thirds of all power – at a minimum – by 2030.

The announcement follows AGL last week saying it would bring forward the closure dates for the Bayswater coal generator in NSW and Loy Yang A in Victoria.