☕️ Australia’s largest coal-fired power station to stay open

Yes, this is what I call you now, after precisely 53 of you sent me very complex equations to answer the working outs of this week’s riddle.

We’re going to settle on: the question is fundamentally flawed and we will never talk about it again.

And if you don’t know what I’m talking about… just… don’t worry.

“The whole time I’ve been in Parliament I’ve been a renter… I wish New Zealand was a country where you could be guaranteed a quality life, a stable life for your family even if you didn’t own a home.”
New Zealand Green Party MP Marama Davidson on the country’s rental market, in an interview with RNZ.

$US7.7 billion ($AU11.6b)
How much student debt President Joe Biden authorised to be cancelled this week, estimated to impact around 160,000 people.

1930
The first woman to fly solo from the UK to Australia, Amy Johnson, landed in Darwin.

Australia’s largest power station will stay open until at least August 2027, after it was scheduled to close in 2025.

The Eraring Power Station is a black coal-fired station near Newcastle, NSW. It generates almost 20% of the state’s power supply.

In 2022, its operator Origin Energy announced plans to close the site as part of the company’s renewable energy transition.

However, the planned closure has been pushed back to 2027 after Origin and the NSW Government reached a two-year extension deal.

The NSW Government said the delayed closure will avoid projected supply shortages as the state transitions to renewables.

Origin could be compensated up to $450 million for keeping Eraring open until June 2027. The State Government could receive up to $80 million of Eraring’s profits over the next two years, if it's profitable.

Eraring must shut entirely by April 2029, as part of the Government’s plan to reach a 50% emissions reduction target by 2030.

In a statement to shareholders on Thursday, Origin CEO Frank Calabria said the extension agreement “strikes the right balance” between the interests of the NSW people and Eraring.

“Origin does not shy away from the need to exit coal generation as soon as there is sufficient renewable energy... available.”

The Eraring extension comes two days after the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) forecast national power supply shortages in the coming years.

AEMO specifically mentioned the planned 2025 closure of Eraring as a factor that could worsen energy supply vulnerabilities.

It also flagged delays to renewable projects in NSW as concerning.

NSW Energy and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said keeping Eraring open would “ensure the lights stay on” in NSW and help the state avoid supply chain uncertainties.

Sharpe said the plan would also prevent a surge in electricity prices and blackouts in NSW across the coming years.

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the Government has mismanaged the state’s energy supply.

Shadow Energy Minister James Griffin said the Eraring extension was poorly negotiated by the Government.

He called it “a good deal for the operator of the power station but not a good deal for citizens of this state”.

The Climate Council and the Australian Conservation Foundation both raised concerns about the environmental implications of the decision.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called an election, months before his party’s term officially ends.

Tens of millions of voters across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland will head to the polls on 4 July.

The Conservative Party (aka the ‘Tories’) has been in Government since 2010. Since then, Britain has been led by five prime ministers.

The Labour party is polling ahead of the Tories, as it seeks to return to power for the first time in 14 years.

David Cameron became PM after the Tories won the 2010 election, ending 13 years of Labour governments.

Since then, the Tories have had four more leaders: Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.

Within that time, the Government led the UK’s departure from the European Union (Brexit), faced criticism over its handling of COVID-19, and saw King Charles become monarch after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

UK general elections must be held every five years. The last election was in December 2019.

On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak confirmed a general election would be held on 4 July. The PM said he received approval from King Charles ahead of the announcement, in line with traditional election processes.

During his announcement, “Things Can Only Get Better” played nearby — former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s campaign song when Labour came to power in a 1997 landslide.

The Tories have been behind Labour in almost every opinion poll since December 2021.

Most recently, Labour has been between 16-22% ahead of the Tories in the polls.

Earlier this month, the Tories suffered significant electoral losses at the local council and mayoral elections.

The UK has seen high inflation (rising prices) over the past two years. Annual inflation peaked at 11.1% in October 2022, above most comparable global economies.

However, UK inflation fell to 2.3% in the year to April, according to data released on the same day as Sunak’s election announcement.

Sunak said voters have a choice between building “on the progress we have made, or risk going back to square one with no plan or no certainty”.

Labour leader Keir Starmer welcomed the news of the general election.

Starmer criticised “Tory chaos” for the UK’s current cost of living crisis, and promised to “rebuild Britain”.

Labour’s election commitments include cutting hospital wait times and boosting teacher numbers.

This week is officially Australian Made Week!

From the Great Barrier Reef, to Kylie Minogue – it should come as no surprise that Australia has produced some pretty iconic things. But it doesn't stop there. This Australian Made Week, you can get behind Aussie makers and growers by shopping locally made products.

Whether it’s fashion, skincare, furniture, or toys – you can find whether an item is genuinely and authentically Australian made by looking for the green triangle and gold kangaroo logo.

Make an impact when you shop by helping us celebrate Australian Made Week.

The butterfly greenhouse in Trento, Italy, was modelled on a rainforest in Tanzania, where butterfly species are known to thrive.

Over 300 butterfly cocoons are placed into the greenhouse each week, making the area home to thousands of winged insects.

Lots of tourism hotspots around the world have come up with ideas to deter visitors - Venice’s tourism charge, Miami’s ad warning college students to stay away, and now a big screen to block views of Japan’s Mt Fuji. 

Authorities have installed large black screens at a convenience store in the Japanese town of Fujikawaguchiko after it became a tourist magnet for people taking pictures of Mt Fuji.

It’s certainly one way to tell tourists they’re not welcome… but it’s at the price of losing some pretty gorgeous views. 

Should kids under 16 be banned from social media? A new campaign called ‘36 Months’ is calling for the age at which young people can sign up to social media to be pushed from 13 to 16. The organisers believe that the 36 months between the two ages are vital, and that “kids need more time to develop healthy and secure identities before they’re exposed to the minefield of social media”.

On today’s podcast, we speak to Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli, one of two organisers of the campaign, about why he’s behind the push, how he thinks it could work in practice and what some of the shortcomings of this approach could be.