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EXCLUSIVE Former AGL Energy boss and power industry veteran Michael Fraser has warned Australia needs a reality check on meeting its net zero targets as the nation moves ever closer to a rolling energy crisis. One of the country's most experienced power executives, Mr Fraser told The Australian the race to take coal and gas out of the system means the coming decade is likely to be marked by regular blackouts and surging prices, given the massive shortfall in efforts to switch the power grid to renewables. "Nobody's saying that we're on schedule or ahead of schedule. We're behind schedule," said Mr Fraser, who ran Australia's biggest power generator for eight years until 2015. Mr Fraser cautioned "a return to the 1970s" when state-backed power networks suffered from chronic blackouts.

But Mr Veldsman said that, under the Bill, there was no guarantee those different categories of driver would continue to be paid about the same. “We’re talking about draft legislation where the ‘full rate of pay’ is so unclear, so undefined, so broad and so open to speculation that we can’t say in future if this Bill is to actually pass that we can still do that,” he said. Mr Veldsman added a number of Hancock’s projects had already stalled due to red tape. Another major concern is a proposal to give casual workers the right to ask to convert to permanent employment after six months of regular hours.

Ontario Energy Minister, Todd Smith, claims nuclear power has been a real “success story” in Canada, declaring “Nuclear has provided about 60 per cent of our electricity”.

Decisions around reviving stalled projects, such as Cooper's OP3D and Senex Energy's Atlas project in Queensland that were put on hold when the intervention was announced, were being watched closely as a test for the code, said Rick Wilkinson, head of the Adelaide-based industry consulting firm EnergyQuest. "If these projects don't proceed quickly a downside risk for supply will have materialised," he said. Ian Davies, CEO of Senex, owned by South Korean steel giant Posco and Gina Rinehart's Hancock Energy, said on Monday the company was still working through the detail of the code.

EnergyAustralia has become the third customer for gas from Senex Energy’s stalled $1 billion Atlas project in Queensland, a development dependent on pricing rules to be released by the federal government this weekThe latest deal by Senex, owned by Korean steel giant Posco and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, is the third by the domestic gas producer in just over two weeks, following conditional contracts signed by retailer AGL Energy and manufacturer Orora.

Strong commodity prices and WA’s powerhouse resources sector have played an “outsized” role in boosting the Federal Government’s coffers, with the Budget surplus ballooning to $19 billion at the end of May. New figures from the Department of Finance show a surge in company and personal tax payments underwriting a stronger than expected result. Receipts from the resources sector was one of the biggest contributors. Mr Albanese argued strong export links would be paramount to ensure unemployment levels remained low. “One in four Australian jobs depend on international trade and that ratio is only going to increase as the economic transformation under way in our region, the fastest growing region of the world in human history, gathers pace,” he told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

Senex Energy, the gas producer controlled by Korean steel giant Posco, has signed up manufacturer Orora as a customer on its $1 billion Atlas project despite doubts over its future given the rules on east coast pricing introduced by the Albanese government. Senex, partly owned by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, agreed to supply more than 14 petajoules of gas from the Atlas expansion to Orora’s glassmaking plant in South Australia over 10 years, starting in 2025.