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Mike Foley

Mike Foley

Mike Foley is the climate and energy correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

The average price per barrel of oil fetched by Santos last year, at $US87.60, was well blow 2022’s $US110.10.

Labor sends emergency delegation to defuse Asian gas alarm

Senior officials will travel to Asia this week in an attempt to douse a growing diplomatic crisis in countries unsettled by Australia’s plans for a gas reservation.

  • Nick Toscano and Mike Foley

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Australia is bracing for another round of petrol panic buying.

Warning over petrol panic-buying as fuel excise discount expires

Fuel suppliers and the federal government are preparing for another surge in petrol demand before a popular tax break is wound up at the end of the month.

  • Mike Foley and Nick Toscano
Health Minister Mark Butler.

‘Significant risk’: Disability ministers defy Butler’s NDIS overhaul

State and territory ministers say NDIS participants will be left in inappropriate settings under Mark Butler’s reforms.

  • Broede Carmody and Mike Foley
Asian refineries, which supply 90 per cent of Australia’s petrol and diesel, sourced most of their oil from the Middle East before the Iran war.

With no end in sight to US-Iran war, Australia is getting oil from some unlikely places

Global trade is trying to rebalance due to the economic carnage of the US and Israel’s war with Iran. That means Australia is getting oil from some very unlikely places.

  • Mike Foley
Neoen owns the Victorian Big Battery outside Geelong in Victoria.

Green energy is shielding Australia from a global power price shock

The rollout of renewables and batteries is buffering Australian electricity bills from the Iran war energy crisis.

  • Nick Toscano and Mike Foley
Angus Taylor, Matt Canavan, Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce.

‘Climate denial on steroids’: How the global anti-climate movement is fracturing right-wing politics at home

Populists are waging a war against climate action around the world, but in Australia the fiercest battle is among the right-wing parties over policy “purity”.

  • Nick O'Malley and Mike Foley
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Snowy Hydro is pushing back on critics as its braces for further blowouts.

Snowy Hydro pumps up the case of 2.0 before more delays, cost blowouts

The mega-project, one of the world’s biggest pumped hydro schemes, will provide cheaper energy and prevent blackouts when coal exits, Snowy says.

  • Mike Foley
EV sales up.

EVs reach major milestone – meaning climate goals might not be a bridge too far

The government’s 2035 climate target was deemed unachievable by many commentators. The Iran war is driving motorists towards it at speed.

  • Mike Foley and Shane Wright
Emissions from the electricity sector fell in 2025, as renewables displace coal and gas.

Climate wars are heating up again as emissions and power bills fall

The Coalition and One Nation are trying to outflank each other against renewables as Labor heralds results in power bills and climate action as “proof” its green agenda is delivering.

  • Mike Foley
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the 32 cents-a-litre fuel excise and GST cuts to fuel would end by July.

Petrol could top $2 a litre after June as excise winds up

The Albanese government has confirmed it is removing a major saving for motorists in coming weeks.

  • Mike Foley