Foreign investors will be further scared off Australian mining and energy — pushing up power prices and crippling the nascent critical minerals industry — by a retrospective change to capital gains tax rules.

The climate catastrophe balloon is losing altitude but COP co-president Chris Bowen obviously has yet to get the message. As energy price pressures continue at home, Mr Bowen has set up a modestly titled “office of the presidency” inside his Climate Change and Energy Department for his additional responsibilities in Turkey for this year’s COP31 UN climate conference.

15.05.2026

Explorers warn the Federal Government’s capital gains tax shake-up could choke investment in the next generation of mining projects by making high-risk exploration less attractive.

The NSW government will bail out the struggling Tomago aluminium smelter in its upcoming budget, ending months of speculation about whether the local aluminium manufacturer will be saved from closure.

WA is being thrown into a constitutional brawl with Canberra over an imminent Federal “takeover” of the State’s gas industry amid warnings the new laws could trigger diplomatic friction with two of Australia’s most important allies.