Late in 2014, we saw iron ore and coal prices fall. Now we are seeing oil prices tumble, dipping to less than US$50 a barrel, half the price of a year ago. In all cases, these price collapses reflect the…
China and the US have announced new climate change targets. China says emissions will peak around 2030.
Rolex Dela Pena/AAP
While most of the world is celebrating the US–China pact on climate change, the deal puts pressure on the Australian government and resources companies to rethink relations with China. The deal, signed…
The Australian National University has drawn fire for dumping mining stocks - but is it alone?
Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons
The Australian National University’s decision to withdraw A$16 million in investment from seven resources companies, including gas producer Santos, has been praised by divestment campaigners and condemned…
Australian coal needs to find some new customers.
Stephen Codrington/Wikimedia Commons
China’s recent move to limit imports of the dirtiest coal from 2015 onwards is a scary prospect for Australian miners. The proposed restrictions will ban the burning of coal with high levels of ash or…
The Queensland town of Chinchilla is now home to a coal seam gas processing plant.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Residents in Queensland’s Western Downs region have mixed feelings towards coal seam gas (CSG) development taking place in their midst, according to our CSIRO survey. More than two-thirds of locals described…
WA’s mining boom has moved to the production phase, creating fresh challenges for the economy.
AAP
One of biggest issues to be addressed in tomorrow’s WA Senate poll - and perhaps one of the most complex, too - is how best to maintain the state’s growth trajectory through the forthcoming period of transition…
The Chinese government is pushing manufacturers, and in particular, steelmakers, to be more energy efficient, reducing demand for Australian coal.
EPA/Mark
Rapid increases in energy efficiency in Chinese manufacturing, especially in the steel production sector, will temper demand for Australian coal exports and put billions of dollars in investment at risk…
High costs, confusing regulation and changing markets are troubling Australia’s natural gas industry.
Flickr/stevendepolo
Resource Minister Gary Gray has called for greater natural gas exploration and warned that Australia would become less competitive in Asia if industry fails to take heed. But is insufficient exploration…
The resources “curse” exists - and to avoid it, Australia must proactively strengthen its public institutions.
AAP
If Australia wants to avoid the “resources curse” it needs to proactively strengthen its institutions. Left unchecked, our increased reliance on the resource sector to drive the economy could lead to a…
Australia’s mining companies have intensified their exploration of resources in Indonesia, much to the detriment of local communities.
Jeff Lewis
Not satisfied with the abundance of our own natural resources, Australian mining companies have spread their interests across the region. Many of these ventures— Ok Tedi, Bougainville, Freeport-Grasberg…
Australia’s boom investment conditions will begin tailing off by 2014, according to a Deloitte Access Economics report - so what does this mean for current labour shortages?
Much public discussion around the current mining boom focuses on the lack of qualified staff to fill an expanding employment market. But yesterday’s report by Deloitte Access Economics warning that the…
The Perth CBD showing the corner of William Street and Hay Street.
(AAP/Tony McDonough)
AUSTRALIA BY NUMBERS: The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the first batch of its census data. We’ve asked some of the country’s top demographers and statisticians to crunch the numbers on…
The population has the best chance of stabilising if we improve the lives of the poor and reign in excessive consumption of the wealthier.
Flickr/DaveWilsonPhotography
Welcome to the State of the Future series. This series addresses 15 global challenges posed by the Millennium Project, an international non-profit think-tank collecting responses for 40 nodes worldwide…
Chinese paramilitary police prepare for a storm in the South China Sea.
EPA/str
The lines traversing the surface of the globe are legal fictions that determine the fates of nations. Nowhere is this truer than in the South China Sea. China’s infamous U-shaped line claims most of this…
Many Argentinians are in favour of President Kirchner’s expropriation of oil company YPF, but what impact will it have on the beleaguered nation’s economic growth?
AAP
In mid-April, in the largest nationalisation since Russia’s acquisition of Yukos in 2003, Argentina’s President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, seized a majority stake in the oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos…
Australia has the resources – but the environmental cost could be huge.
AAP/Purple Communications
AUSTRALIA IN THE ASIAN CENTURY – A series examining Australia’s role in the rapidly transforming Asian region. Delivered in partnership with the Australian government. Here, Dr Gavin Mudd considers the…
Billionaire Clive Palmer: how much of his fabulous wealth is due to government policy?
AAP
Over the last year or so, the Occupy movement has garnered wide attention, with people of all backgrounds gathering to protest the deteriorating social conditions. However, these grievances have been running…
There has been a concerted push for foreign workers to fill the gaps in the resources industry.
AAP
Within the much publicised debate of labour shortages in the resources sector, there is now a concerted push to open up employment to larger numbers of skilled foreign workers. Large employers such as…
Celebrating: after being seen as a basket case for so long, Brazil’s economy is now powering.
AAP
Few countries have been left unscathed by the global financial crisis and it seems that they are all situated in the southern hemisphere. Brazil and Australia are some of them. Recently, their economies…
Former President Lula used Brazil’s commodities boom to secure the country’s future.
AAP
Brazil has just passed the United Kingdom to become the sixth-largest economy in the world. Only a decade ago such news would have been written off as just another version of the old joke, “Brazil is the…