House byline
Environment correspondent
Freya Bennett is a house byline for InfoHandle’s Environment desk.
The High Court dismissed Mach Energy's appeal and stopped a plan to keep the Mount Pleasant mine operating into the late 2040s because planners did not impose practicable limits on greenhouse emissions.
Crown Lands towed a juvenile humpback off a sandbar near Iluka after it sat in the Clarence for more than a day, prompting marine biologists to warn swimmers away for a week.
A rotating column crossed the seaside town after 1 p.m. on Saturday, ripping roofs and knocking out power as the SES fielded more than 90 storm calls statewide.
Victoria's State Emergency Service told holidaymakers to leave creeks and rivers in the Otways before Saturday's heavy burst, as Melbourne absorbed its wettest day in two years and more than 330 calls for help piled up statewide.
Record October rain swamped inner-city roads Thursday while the State Emergency Service warned 18 catchments to prepare for river flooding through the weekend.
The state's independent planning panel has cleared the Hunter Valley Operations Continuation Project, allowing open-cut mining near Singleton to run until 2045 in the largest coal case it has ever decided.
Viva Energy's Geelong refinery sounded its emergency alarm on Saturday after a gas leak at the Corio site, with workers moved into shelter and emergency services called to the plant on Corio Bay. What was released, whether production was cut, and what regulators do next remain open.
A planned hazard reduction burn on Katanna Road at Wedderburn jumped containment lines about 4pm Saturday, destroying one RFS truck, seriously damaging two others and leading to assessments of up to 19 people before the blaze was contained.
Murray–Darling Basin irrigators in northern New South Wales face new Commonwealth consultation sessions after Canberra published indicative interest from a voluntary buyback expression of interest, with no purchase decision made yet.
Queensland Fire Department upgraded a South Burnett blaze at Teelah to an emergency “seek shelter now” warning on Stretton Drive and Scott Close on Sept 22, telling residents it was too late to leave as drought-hardened bush flared near homes north of Blackbutt.
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has published a spring timetable of temporary weir and dam releases aimed at stable wetland levels for waterbird nesting, including up to 10 gigalitres into Murray Valley National Park for Australasian bittern habitat.
Colac Otway and Surf Coast shires are piloting mesh ember screens on coastal heath walking nodes before the spring fire window, pairing CFA guidance with land managers worried about tourist ignition paths along the Great Ocean Road.