Gas Market Review Consultation

Greenwashing litigation in Australia has entered a new phase. Until now, these cases have been brought by regulators, shareholder groups and advocacy organisations. A consumer class action has now been filed in the Federal Court against AGL Energy Limited (AGL) – the first greenwashing class action in Australia.

The NSW Government has doubled the objection threshold for electricity generating works to be referred to the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) and removed objection-based IPC referral for battery energy storage systems altogether. These changes seek to materially reduce approval risk for proponents across the energy sector.

Many industrial customers face rising energy costs, among other challenges. We look at examples of government support provided so far.

Queensland's proposed mining reforms aim to streamline environmental assessment by removing duplication between mining lease and environmental authority processes, while introducing discretionary Land Court referrals and refined objection rights. The Bill proposes significant changes to who may object to mining applications and on what grounds, potentially affecting mining entities, landholders, and community stakeholders across the state.

Pastoralists should identify the water and operational assets that matter to the station before activity begins, then ensure any access or commercial agreement clearly deals with monitoring, disruption, rehabilitation, liability and review. The legal position will depend on the mining or exploration licence (as the case may be), the pastoral lease, government policy, approvals and proposed activity, but early preparation gives a family stronger footing in discussions.

The Request for Proposal (RFP) stage of Australia’s first offshore wind auction opened in Victoria on 26 August 2026.

Australia's energy storage market is expanding rapidly, yet long-duration energy storage (LDES) faces a critical financing challenge. While the technical need for storage systems capable of discharging for eight hours or more is widely accepted, the market does not yet fully reward the reliability, resilience and system benefits these projects provide, creating a gap between capital costs and available revenue that threatens bankability.

Utility organizations face mounting pressure to address customer hardship through comprehensive ecosystem changes. This analysis explores how utilities can implement interventions across individual, organizational, and systemic levels to create meaningful impact. The framework presented offers a multi-layered approach to transforming reactive support into proactive, system-wide solutions.

Default offers in Australia's retail electricity market were designed to eliminate loyalty penalties and simplify plan comparisons, but how exactly do regulators calculate these price caps? The Australian Energy Regulator and Essential Services Commission now employ similar bottom-up methodologies that stack various cost components to determine what a prudent retailer would need to charge a representative customer.

The recent decision of the High Court in Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave Funding) Corporation v Orica Australia Pty Ltd [2026] HCA 30 has confirmed by majority that employees...

As a result of operational constraints related to the enhanced social media vetting of H-1B and H-4 visa applicants that will go into effect on December 15, 2025, U.S. consulates in India have begun automatically...

President Trump issued an executive order implementing the Graham Act, which establishes substantial new tariffs on Russian goods and countries purchasing Russian energy, but simultaneously waives their application. The order creates a monitoring framework that leaves open the possibility of future enforcement while maintaining existing Russia sanctions regimes.

On January 12, 2026, President Trump announced via Truth Social: "[e]ffective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay...

On September 18, 2026, President Donald Trump signed into law the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 (Act), a significant package of sanctions, trade restrictions and related measures...

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today issued Russia-related General License 135 (GL 135), “Authorizing Transactions Related to the Sale, Delivery...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a final rule that will shift the H-1B cap registration selection process from a random lottery to a weighted selection process...

China has a VAT rebate system that reduces the 13% domestic value-added tax (VAT) on certain exported goods.

On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a proposed rule that would impose a $103,265 fee on all cap-subject H-1B petitions.

Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order granting a five-year exemption from registration as a national securities exchange under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934...

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has implemented sweeping changes to Cuba sanctions, establishing a new regulatory framework that targets foreign persons and financial institutions while significantly restricting previously authorized activities. These measures create potential sanctions exposure for non-U.S. businesses and banks conducting Cuba-related transactions, fundamentally altering the compliance landscape for international financial intermediaries.