Sydney is no stranger to extreme heat. In January 2020, Penrith in Western Sydney reached 48.9°C, the highest temperature ever recorded in Greater Sydney.
Now imagine Penrith in 2050: the heat lasts longer, extreme heat events happen more often, and power goes out on the hottest days because the grid can’t cope.
Sign up for our free ...
Australia’s new National Environment Protection Agency begins operating this week (from 1 July 2026), the centrepiece of the biggest overhaul of Australian environmental law in more than 25 years. It will make assessment pathways faster, offset markets more efficient and approvals quicker.
What it will not do is change the underlying belief that ...
Although federal and state governments have recognised the desperate need for more social housing, and homes are being constructed (and demolished), the waiting list continues to grow.
Spinifex is an opinion column. If you would like to contribute, contact us to ask for a detailed brief.
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In ...
Knocks us over with a feather. Australians who voted no to the Voice, and no to the Liberal Party but yes to One Nation, have also polled yes to falling house prices. These things could all be connected to the Yellow Brick Road that leads us back to the glorious sensible centre, once pilloried as boring, in today’s crazy world, a radical ...
SEFA commits $500 million to support underfunded social services
Impact investor Social Enterprise Finance Australia (SEFA) has announced a $500 million commitment by 2030 and estimates it could support up to 1000 underfunded local charities, social enterprises, and community organisations. The funding will help address a structural funding gap as ...
In celebration of the London Climate Action Week, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres warned the world that it is facing a “tale of two crises”, the climate crisis and the energy crisis. One is pushing us deeper toward higher temperatures and closer to catastrophic tipping points, and the other is exposing the folly of a world hooked on ...
There’s a lot of misdirection – to say the least – about the tax that Australia extracts from its big extraction industry of gas. The industry has been advertising strongly to turn public support its way. But what’s the truth? Here’s what we found.
Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG), yet the profits from ...
Richard Hyde, who was a panellist at the Passive House Debate in May, curated by The Fifth Estate, has some reflections on the debate to share. The proposition of the debate was: Passive House is the ideal solution for future-fit buildings.
“Passive House (PH), or in the original German Passivhaus, denotes a highly energy-efficient building, one that ...
The UK government is cracking the whip on private rented buildings over 1000 square metres, confirming that from 2031, these buildings will need to reach a higher standard of energy efficiency. And the UK’s Better Buildings Partnership is in full agreement.
Better Building Partnerships said on social media that this was a “critical piece of ...
Below is an extract from Dr Paul Loh and Andrei Dolnikov’s new book Parallax: Architectural Visualisation Now, courtesy of Uro Publications.
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Architectural visualisation has emerged as a powerful medium that shapes how the community at large understands the future possibilities of our cities. ...
Brookfield is selling Australian-based construction firm Multiplex to Japan’s “big five” construction giant, Obayashi Corporation, for $US650 ($A924) million. We looked into its sustainability claims, and if these translate to its Australian practices, the company might be seen as a pacesetter.
According to recent announcements, the Japanese Obayashi ...
Female engineers underutilised and underpaid
A new report from Engineers Australia and WSP finds that 13,000 more women could be in direct engineering roles if employed at the same rate as men. Additionally, Workplace Gender Equality Agency data reveals the gender pay gap persists in the professional scientific and technical services industry. It ...
Sydney is no stranger to extreme heat. In January 2020, Penrith in Western Sydney reached 48.9°C, the highest temperature ever recorded in Greater Sydney.
Now imagine Penrith in 2050: the heat lasts longer, extreme heat events happen more often, and power goes out on the hottest days because the grid can’t cope.
Sign up for our free ...
Australia’s new National Environment Protection Agency begins operating this week (from 1 July 2026), the centrepiece of the biggest overhaul of Australian environmental law in more than 25 years. It will make assessment pathways faster, offset markets more efficient and approvals quicker.
What it will not do is change the underlying belief that ...
Although federal and state governments have recognised the desperate need for more social housing, and homes are being constructed (and demolished), the waiting list continues to grow.
Spinifex is an opinion column. If you would like to contribute, contact us to ask for a detailed brief.
Sign up for our free newsletter.
In ...
Knocks us over with a feather. Australians who voted no to the Voice, and no to the Liberal Party but yes to One Nation, have also polled yes to falling house prices. These things could all be connected to the Yellow Brick Road that leads us back to the glorious sensible centre, once pilloried as boring, in today’s crazy world, a radical ...
SEFA commits $500 million to support underfunded social services
Impact investor Social Enterprise Finance Australia (SEFA) has announced a $500 million commitment by 2030 and estimates it could support up to 1000 underfunded local charities, social enterprises, and community organisations. The funding will help address a structural funding gap as ...
In celebration of the London Climate Action Week, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres warned the world that it is facing a “tale of two crises”, the climate crisis and the energy crisis. One is pushing us deeper toward higher temperatures and closer to catastrophic tipping points, and the other is exposing the folly of a world hooked on ...
There’s a lot of misdirection – to say the least – about the tax that Australia extracts from its big extraction industry of gas. The industry has been advertising strongly to turn public support its way. But what’s the truth? Here’s what we found.
Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG), yet the profits from ...
Richard Hyde, who was a panellist at the Passive House Debate in May, curated by The Fifth Estate, has some reflections on the debate to share. The proposition of the debate was: Passive House is the ideal solution for future-fit buildings.
“Passive House (PH), or in the original German Passivhaus, denotes a highly energy-efficient building, one that ...
The UK government is cracking the whip on private rented buildings over 1000 square metres, confirming that from 2031, these buildings will need to reach a higher standard of energy efficiency. And the UK’s Better Buildings Partnership is in full agreement.
Better Building Partnerships said on social media that this was a “critical piece of ...
Below is an extract from Dr Paul Loh and Andrei Dolnikov’s new book Parallax: Architectural Visualisation Now, courtesy of Uro Publications.
Sign up for our free newsletter.
Architectural visualisation has emerged as a powerful medium that shapes how the community at large understands the future possibilities of our cities. ...
Brookfield is selling Australian-based construction firm Multiplex to Japan’s “big five” construction giant, Obayashi Corporation, for $US650 ($A924) million. We looked into its sustainability claims, and if these translate to its Australian practices, the company might be seen as a pacesetter.
According to recent announcements, the Japanese Obayashi ...
Female engineers underutilised and underpaid
A new report from Engineers Australia and WSP finds that 13,000 more women could be in direct engineering roles if employed at the same rate as men. Additionally, Workplace Gender Equality Agency data reveals the gender pay gap persists in the professional scientific and technical services industry. It ...
