Australia is at risk of under-building long-duration energy storage as governments back batteries that last hours, not days.

Victoria’s public service wages bill continues to spiral despite the government slashing hundreds of jobs, prompting warnings from international rating agencies that employee costs are undermining the state’s finances.

Australia is undertaking a 100 per cent renewables transition without its best players: those reliable old steam turbines that once gave cheap, steady power. Ignoring physics won’t make electricity affordable.

Australia’s biggest employers are pushing Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers to impose strict limits on spending, debt levels and the tax-to-GDP ratio, as the Treasurer promises to save more than he spends in next week’s budget.

“I know an economic slam dunk when I see one,” Industry Minister Tim Ayres told a Hunter business audience last week, defending the Tomago aluminium smelter rescue package.

The true cost of Snowy Hydro 2.0 has spiralled to $42bn and should be the subject of a Royal Commission into “one of the biggest disasters” in Australian infrastructure, economist Bruce Mountain and energy executive Ted Woodley said.