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Renew Economy Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 10:47 Source

Eraring Battery Origin Energy Wartsilla NSWPlans to develop a 200MW, two-hour battery in NSW have been sent to the Independent Planning Commission after attracting 61 objections, mostly from people living hundreds of kilometres away.

The post Another NSW battery sent for independent review by interstate and long-distance objectors appeared first on Renew Economy.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 10:30 Source

In a social media post late last year, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil claimed: “Why is housing so tough right now? Because for 40 years our country hasn’t been building enough homes.” But is that actually true? Today’s Numbers It’s certainly correct that Australia is currently not building enough homes and hasn’t been for quite some

The post Busting Albo’s housing myths appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 10:00 Source

On Wednesday, I wrote an article explaining how both China and India—the world’s largest and third-largest carbon emitters (combined share of 40.1% of global emissions in 2024)—planned to aggressively expand their coal production and generation. China currently produces around 10 times more coal than Australia, and India over two times more: Both nations also import

Read more Views: 36
Your Democracy Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 09:39 Source

By Rami Amichai TEL AVIV (Reuters) Tue, May 13, 2014 — Israel's ex-prime minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years in jail on Tuesday [for taking bribes in a real estate deal, a crime the judge said was akin to treason. The first criminal conviction of a former Israeli head of government all but ended speculation that Olmert - a centrist credited internationally with working towards a peace settlement with the Palestinians - might return to political life.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 09:30 Source

DXY was strong last night, likely because the situation with Iran is coming to a head. It refuses to break down technically. AUD was quite weak, chasing JPY and CNY. Oil popped with gold. AI metals rose, but there is an almighty peak behind it. Big miners, too. EM stocks are at the highs. Remember,

The post Australian dollar at risk of sudden fall appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 09:00 Source

It’s a lot of motherhood statements so far, but they are good ones, at least. “Tiny” Tim Wilson has given us a sort of philosophy. Mr Wilson flagged plans for a two-tier system of company taxes and regulations that provided a more generous environment for small business owners. “I’m looking exclusively at how it is

The post Tiny and Andrew offer their vision appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 07:46 Source

We used to be journalists, but now we mostly just bitch about them. (Kidding. Kind of.) We also break down broken news.

This weekly podcast brings you honest and original media analysis from two insiders who've broken plenty of news and been broken by it, too. Hosted by long-suffering journalists and even longer-suffering friends, Jan Fran and Antoinette Lattouf, We Used to Be Journos is your quide to the way the media works.

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Your Democracy Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 06:55 Source

Since 1945, one country has carried out a conventional military buildup unmatched in scale, cost and global reach. Claims about recent rivals distract from the historical record of how modern military dominance was built.

Read more Views: 38
Your Democracy Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 05:44 Source

 

Scapegoating migrants is designed to distract our attention from the truth and real issues – the abuse of corporate and media power and failure to tackle housing shortages for younger generations.

The Liberal Party looks like following the rot that set in with John Howard – Tampa and dog whistling about Asian migration. But this time the Liberal Party might be kicking an own goal because of the electoral clout of our migrant communities.

 

Read more Views: 43
Your Democracy Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 05:33 Source

 

Russia’s stance that the Ukraine conflict can only be resolved if its root causes are addressed is “s**t,” Vladimir Zelensky has said.

The Ukrainian leader is increasingly using profanities in public statements and insulting those who disagree with his policies.

Read more Views: 40
MacroBusiness Thursday, February 19, 2026 - 00:01 Source

I was interviewed via email earlier this week by Harrison Christian, a senior reporter at News.com.au, asking why the US economy is performing so much better than Australia’s. In particular: US real GDP growth is 4.4%, compared with Australia’s 2.1%. US CPI inflation is 2.4% compared with Australia’s 3.8%. The US is still cutting interest

The post Without productivity growth, living standards won’t grow appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 22:53 Source

Expensive gas is not viable for Whyalla Steelworks, in the interim or the long-term. If we’re going to do massive subsidies, let’s at least back the best solution for a decarbonising world.

The post If green iron is the future for Whyalla Steelworks, locking in costly and dirty gas is a dead end appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 22:30 Source

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 22:26 Source

Alcoa has been given the green light to clear more Australian forest after being fined for stripping land for bauxite mining without the right approvals.

The post Alcoa fined $55 billion for illegal forest clearing, gets green light to clear more Jarrah trees appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 40
Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 22:10 Source

 Rachel WilliamsonSolar is cheap and easy to build for Fortescue, and working in the Pilbara gives the company more leeway to try some things not allowed elsewhere in Australia.

The post “Tracker, panel, rinse, repeat:” How Fortescue is driving solar innovation in the Pilbara appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 15:13 Source

Talk about exquisitely bad timing. On Friday, the federal Liberal Party’s latest leadership spill – a mere nine months after the last one – showed the ability of the members of the federal parliamentary party to lose their heads when all about were keeping theirs.

The result, as history recorded, was Angus Taylor defeating leader Sussan Ley 34-17.

Read more Views: 65
Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 15:12 Source

First phase of integrated solar and battery project is synchronised and energised, on the way to becoming the world’s largest project of its kind.

The post World’s largest solar-battery hybrid project powers up in the Philippines appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 15:00 Source

Queensland coal generator celebrates the commercial start of its first big battery, which will provide essential firming capacity and reliability "within fractions of a second."

The post New big battery kicks off commercial operations next to outage-prone Queensland coal plant appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 67
MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 13:00 Source

By Salvatore Babones, Associate Professor at Sydney University and author of the book “Australia’s Universities, Can They Reform” Universities Australia (UA) has published its pre-budget submission, and it opens with the claim that its members educate “1.5 million Australians every year”. That is incorrect. They educate roughly 1.5 million people every year—of whom only about

Read more Views: 65
Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 12:06 Source

A solar and battery project proposed for the NSW Hunter region has been dropped by the developer, in what has been described as a "really welcome outcome" for local communities.

The post Developer drops coal country solar and battery plans in face of mounting local opposition appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 52
MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 11:46 Source

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) revised its forecasts on CPI inflation and wage growth in the February Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP), as summarised below: The key takeaway was that the RBA does not anticipate that real wages will recover over the forward estimates, as illustrated below: By the June quarter of 2028, Australia’s real

The post Australian real wages crunched lower appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 11:30 Source

The six-month annualized growth rate of the Westpac–Melbourne Institute Leading Index, which shows how much economic activity is expected to change in relation to trend three to nine months from now, went down from +0.44% in December to +0.02% in January. Westpac argues, as I do, that the most recent data shows that the momentum

The post Leading index drives into RBA ditch appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 11:00 Source

The minutes from the RBA’s February monetary policy meeting were released on Tuesday. The key takeaways are that the RBA is highly uncertain about the outlook for inflation and interest rates: “Members agreed that the prevailing uncertainties meant it was not possible to have a high degree of confidence in any particular path for the

The post A RBA rate hawk enters the room appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 73
xkcd.com Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 11:00 Source

My icebox plum trap easily captured William Carlos Williams. It took much less work than the infinite looping network of diverging paths I had to build in that yellow wood to ensnare Robert Frost.

Read more Views: 12
Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 10:49 Source

Our off-grid luxury lodge combines a whole of system approach with renewables and storage, and a backup genset triggered only by indiscrete EV charging.

The post An all-electric, off-grid luxury lodge, powered entirely by solar, wind and a battery appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 64
MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 10:30 Source

Charts from TME. NDX is flirting with serious support levels while tech volatility trends higher.. Sag 7 in trouble. It’s pretty clear the market wants less capex spending. Apple is showing the way. Concentration is falling. NDX skew is nasty. Lot’s of bears here. Diffusion is extraordinary as the market gyrates wildly through winners and

The post Tech wreck 2.0 just getting started? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 10:00 Source

There’s no escaping the fact that buying a property in Australia will naturally entail high costs. This is especially true in populated regions near major cities like Sydney and Melbourne—places where demand for housing is steadily and sharply rising well beyond the $1 million barrier. The good news is that prospective homeowners don’t have to

The post Property investing in Australia: costs beyond the deposit appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 7
Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 10:00 Source

WA-royalties-santos-offshore-gas-field-emissions-Edit-1536x864.jpgThe defeat of a climate suit against Santos has disappointed activists but opened the public's eyes to how the resources giant developed its net-zero targets.

The post “Goliath won this round:” Santos beats greenwashing lawsuit, but activists claim small victory appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 746
MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 10:00 Source

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) July 2023 Transmission Cost Report, which was released alongside updates to the 2022 Integrated System Plan (ISP), stated that estimated costs for some major transmission projects had increased by up to 100% compared with 2022 ISP estimates. AEMO also said that “we recognise that higher costs for network development

Read more Views: 44
MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 09:30 Source

“Tiny” Tim Wilson is your new shadow treasurer. New Coalition Treasury spokesman Tim Wilson has warned too many jobs are reliant on government support and vowed to put small business at the heart of his agenda, amid expectations real wages will go backwards for the first time in more than two years. With Labor set to

The post “Tiny” Tim rises to shadow treasurer appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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