Australia politics live: renewables and batteries soar but ‘critical’ moment coming; WiseTech staff face AI redundancy | Australia news
important events
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji we are here with you, thank you Martin Farrer for starting us.
It will be another big day in Canberra as Labor battles the Coalition over capital gains tax changes (with legislation to be introduced on Thursday) and public servants and government senators steel themselves to face another day of debate on forecasts today. This will include the national anti-corruption commission and its commissioner Paul Brereton He’s the one who announced his resignation yesterday – we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for that this afternoon.
And on a very different note, there is pressure in Parliament today for more support for new fathers; This campaign is also supported by the men’s mental health ambassador. Dan Repacholi and independent David Pocock – more on this soon.
I got my coffee, I hope you got your coffee too; let’s get stuck in!
josh taylor
WiseTech president alleges ‘threat of violence’ against CEO
Founder and president of WiseTech, Richard White, He wrote a letter to staff late Sunday evening, claiming there had been “personal attacks, insults and extremely aggressive behavior in group chats” over the software company’s AI restructuring.
The company did not provide any examples of this when asked Monday.
Multiple employees of Guardian Australia claimed that all questions posed to managers in the chat were that they were seeking more information about the redundancies in a professional manner and that they were being attacked for asking questions.
White’s email also allegedly stated that the CEO: Zubin AppooHe received a handwritten note “containing personal information and offensive comments towards family members…threats of violence.”
A spokesperson for WiseTech said the matter was “under police investigation” and said: “WiseTech has zero tolerance for threats of violence, abuse, intimidation, harassment, insults or offensive behaviour. any.”
Nearly 200 WiseTech Australian employees laid off over AI
josh taylor
Professionals Australia, the union that represents employees of software company WiseTech, told Guardian Australia that 190 staff in the company’s product development department and customer service teams have been informed their roles could be given away as part of 2,000 cuts due to advances in artificial intelligence.
Guardian Australia reported last week that staff were told they would be informed this week after waiting nearly three months since the initial announcement.
Guardian Australia understands emails were sent to affected employees and those who would remain with the company informing them either way, but were recalled and resent an hour later.
Experts Australia said this was to allow staff who could be made redundant to provide their personal email details before leaving WiseTech systems.
A two-week consultation will take place with WiseTech for those affected and employees will be invited to a meeting to discuss the changes. WiseTech has not yet stated whether it plans to offer more than the required backup.
A spokesperson for WiseTech said no final decision has been made yet.
A final decision on any individual role will not be made until the relevant requirements for each local jurisdiction have been met.
We are aware that a process of this scale, nature and complexity creates uncertainty for our people. We have taken a careful and deliberate approach to ensure that our decisions are well informed and made taking full account of our business and people.
Renewables and batteries are growing rapidly but ‘critical’ moment is coming
Australia has become a global top-three player in batteries, with renewable energy providing almost half of the country’s power in 2025; But the Clean Energy Council has warned that progress could stall as investment in new wind and solar energy declines.
The industry’s annual report found renewable energy will provide 43% of Australia’s electricity through 2025, up from 39% in 2024. The year ended on a high, with clean energy producing more than 50% of the power on the national grid in the final quarter.
Australia ranked third in the world for grid-scale batteries behind China and the US, with 2GW of grid-connected large-scale battery capacity, a 233% increase on the previous year.
However, despite these successes, CEC general manager Jackie Trad said: The energy transition is approaching a “critical juncture,” he said.
The next five years are very important. Our industry’s top priority in 2026 should be to remove barriers that slow investment in new large-scale wind and solar projects to replace unreliable coal generators that threaten the security of our energy system.
A 48% decline in new investments in onshore wind and solar energy signaled a possible slowdown. This was most obvious for wind; 0.9 GW had reached financial close in 2025, compared to 2.2 GW in the previous year.
According to the report, rising inflation, regulatory bottlenecks, slow delivery of transmission and delayed coal shutdowns have contributed to weakening investor confidence.
Investment in battery storage remained strong. Home battery purchases are up 260% by 2024, helped by the federal government’s cheaper home batteries program. More than 268,000 small-scale storage systems added in 2025; that number has since increased to 400,000.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I Martin Farrer with the best night stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
There’s both good and bad news for the environment: Australia is among the top three global players in batteries, and renewable energy will supply almost half of the country’s power in 2025 – but the annual industry report warns that new investment is worryingly lacking (especially notable given BHP’s massive exclusivity today that renewables are slowing down).
Unions told the Guardian that around 190 WiseTech employees had been informed their roles could change as part of 2,000 cuts due to advances in artificial intelligence. More is coming.
Men’s health project Movember is pressing for more support for new fathers and will lobby parliament today. More on this to come.
