☕️ The Government's plan for renewables

Apologies to everyone for not having my usual riddle in yesterday’s newsletter. I thought the budget was puzzling enough. (I lie, I forgot.)

But I will make up for it today.

Here is today’s riddle: What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

P.S. On another note, we’re currently polling our audience on what they think about the Federal Budget. If you’d like tell us your thoughts, this survey will take 1 minute!

“When you look at the long sweep of history, you can see just how dramatic recent global warming is.”
Professor Ulf Büntgen, co-author of an international study that showed 2023 had the Northern Hemisphere’s hottest summer in 2,000 years.

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The rate of inflation in Argentina over the 12 months to April. For comparison, the inflation rate in Australia was 3.6% over the 12 months to March.

1929
The first Academy Awards (aka the Oscars), were held. Emil Jannings won Best Actor and Janet Gaynor won Best Actress.

Wages grew by 4.1% over the year to March, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Annual wage growth has dropped slightly from the 15-year high reported in December of 4.2%.

Annual wage growth for the year to March 2024 was highest in Tasmania (4.9%), and lowest in the ACT (3.2%).

Healthcare and social assistance workers saw a 5.3% rise in wages — the highest of any industry. Retail and transport workers also saw wages increase above the national average (4.4% and 4.3% respectively).

Arts sector employees (3.1%) were among those with the smallest wage increases.

Australia has been in a period of high inflation (rising prices) since 2022. Wages commonly increase during these periods, to meet rising costs.

As part of this week’s Federal Budget, the Australian Government projected wage growth to slow over the coming years, as inflation is expected to stabilise following two years of increases.

The Government said it expected wage growth to slow to 3.25% over the next two years, before rising slightly to 3.5% from 2026.

As wages have grown, so have the prices of essential items (inflation). While Australians may have made more money in 2023, they also had to spend more on basics like petrol and food.

In the March quarter, wage growth (4.1%) outpaced the rate of inflation (3.6%).

This suggests that more Australians are seeing an increase in their ‘real’ wage — how much wages grow above the rate of inflation. The Government projects inflation to drop to below 3% by the end of 2024, and further rises to ‘real’ wages.

The Government will spend $22.7 billion over the next decade to turn Australia into a “renewable energy superpower”.

The funding supports a plan formally called ‘Future Made in Australia’ (FMIA), which needs to be passed in legislation.

Here’s everything you need to know about FMIA.

Australia is in the process of transitioning from relying on fossil fuels, like coal and gas, to renewables, such as solar and wind.

The Government has legislated a target for 82% of Australia’s energy to be generated by renewables by 2030. Renewables accounted for nearly 40% of total energy use in 2023, according to data from the Clean Energy Council.

Australia has also legislated a goal of net zero emissions by 2050, where greenhouse gas emissions produced and taken out of the atmosphere are balanced.

The Government says Australia needs more renewable energy infrastructure to support the transition to net zero.

This includes boosting the production of solar panels, batteries, and wind turbines, to harness renewable sources of energy.

The Government has developed the FMIA plan as a new strategy to support its climate goals, by boosting manufacturing and green energy infrastructure.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the FMIA plan in Queensland last month.

In the Federal Budget, the Government outlined its nearly $23 billion plan for the next decade. Some of the FMIA funding covers incentives for industries to build and develop green energy technologies.

The Government is yet to confirm when it will introduce the FMIA legislation.

The FMIA follows several green energy programs around the world.

For example, part of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act included hundreds of billions of dollars on clean energy.

The European Union’s Green Deal Industrial Plan is aimed at accelerating renewables manufacturing across Europe.

Peak industry, union and advocacy groups have largely welcomed the FMIA plans.

Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said it will help “tackle climate pollution, generate clean jobs, and ensure a brighter future”.

The Climate Council urged the Government to “seize the decade and make the most of our abundant clean energy resources and deep manufacturing know-how.”

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said he supports a “strong” Australian manufacturing industry.

However, he’s criticised the FMIA’s plans to directly subsidise the energy industry’s transition to renewables rather than through encouraging private investment.

Taylor called the legislation the ‘MIA Bill’ and vowed to closely look at the details once they emerge.

We’ve been writing a lot about endometriosis recently (you might remember this story) and there’s always so much interest from our audience. If you’re not someone who suffers from endo yourself, it’s likely there’s someone in your life who is suffering from the disease.

That’s why we wanted to introduce you to the viral heat pack brand, Kosi. Kosi’s heat packs offer 360-degree hands-free pain relief solutions. They provide heating the whole way around the tummy and back and have strong velcro. They can be worn under clothes and have a very soft luxurious fabric.

Undergraduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology worked with astronomers to discover the 12 to 13 billion-year-old stars in the Milky Way’s halo.

Dating app Bumble’s marketing team has apologised for an ad that critics thought shamed women who are not sexually active.

Billboards around the world featured taglines like: “A vow of celibacy is not the answer” and “Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun.”

Audiences were quick to air their distaste, saying the ads seemed to judge women’s choices.

Bumble formally apologised in an Instagram post, saying: “We made a mistake. Our ads referencing celibacy were an attempt to lean into a community frustrated by modern dating, and instead we unintentionally did the opposite.”

The company has pulled the global campaign and will donate to organisations including the U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline.

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Riddle answer: A stamp.

For the first time, someone has been imprisoned in relation to Australia’s alleged war crimes. His name is David McBride.

But he didn’t commit those crimes; he was the whistleblower for a 2017 report by the ABC that investigated alleged war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan. And this week, McBride was sentenced to nearly six years in jail.

On today's podcast, we'll break down everything you need to know about this story.