Michael Mazengarb

ASX getting absolutely wrecked, except for fossil fuels.

No one fails short of hype and expectations like Australian drivers at the Australian GP.

Webber, Ricciardo and Piastri have 26 career race wins and 100 podiums between them.

No podiums at the Australian GP.

I think this is doubly so for Australian fossil fuel CEOs. Not needing to navigate ships through somewhere like the Strait of Hormuz means unimpeded war profiteering.

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations Leading AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google opted to use nuclear weapons in simulated war games in 95 per cent of cases

Perhaps we were always in The Terminator timeline?
www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

‘We got there!’: Text messages reveal Woodside’s negotiating tactics Private text messages between Woodside officials and senior Australian decision-makers lift the lid on how the industry engages with government to get results.

Amazing piece giving insight into the relationship between major fossil fuel companies and senior government officials.

130 direct, personal, text messages in 4 months between a Woodside rep and a DCCEEW deputy secretary.
www.smh.com.au/environment/...

Santos cleared of greenwashing, but a climate law reckoning still looms for fossil fuels Santos beat greenwashing claims in court, and while the ruling exposes the limits of climate law, the battle for climate justice and accountability is just ramping up.

Santos beat greenwashing claims in court, and while the ruling exposes the limits of climate law, the battle for climate justice and accountability is just ramping up.
open.substack.com/pub/tempests...

Like clockwork, fossil fuel companies will profit from war.

Green Party wins Gorton and Denton by-election with Labour pushed into third by Reform Hannah Spencer, a 34-year-old plumber, also becomes the first Green Party candidate to win a Westminster by-election.

Huge.
www.bbc.com/news/live/cp...

There’s a phrase for this sort of thing.

Taxpayers ‘deserve better’: Labor puts top climate lawyers on notice The government is warning the Environmental Defenders Office it risks losing its funding after a series of high-profile court cases against a major gas producer.

Another instance of the Labor resources minister parroting the fossil fuel industry line.

Threats to funding is just another attempt to silence those who seek to hold fossil fuel companies accountable in court.
www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Sure thing! It is from Woodside's 2025 Annual Report (published earlier this week) - page 74.

Link: www.woodside.com/docs/default...

Oil and gas producer Woodside qualified the potential financial impacts of climate litigation in the highest bucket.

Interestingly, it did not try to quantify the potential liabilities that could arise through the advances in climate attribution science, but acknowledged it could have an impact.

Santos Cleared of Greenwashing, but Climate Law Pressures Are Building Santos beat greenwashing claims in court, and while the ruling exposes the limits of climate law, the battle for climate justice and accountability is just ramping up.

Was the greenwashing claim against Santos successful? No.
Santos’ representations might not be misleading, but that does not mean the company’s actions are an adequate response to the climate crisis that we face, and to which it is a major contributor.

bro.

Is Albo just turning into Scott Morrison?

Climate litigation is democracy at work, not a ‘misuse’ of the courts — Climate Integrity Public interest litigation plays a critical role in enhancing accountability and is critical to a healthy, functioning democracy. It is a legitimate role of the courts to hold powers to account, and a...

Joint statement from Climate Integrity and other leading voices on climate, democracy and public integrity, following further fossil fuel industry attacks on public interest climate litigation.
climateintegrity.org.au/latest/clima...

that was literally the plan

Apparently, potential costs to transport hydrogen around Australia of 'trillions of dollars' are totally reasonable.

The usual purpose of generating ACCUs is to enable them to be sold to someone else, so they can use them as an offset.

Generating ACCUs to offset your own emissions is actually a redundant process. So the suggestion that producing ACCUs signals an intent to use offsets isn't obvious.

The judgement cites the fact Santos pursued a method for claiming ACCUs for CCS as evidence that it had been clear that it intended to produce 'blue hydrogen' that relied, at least partially, on offsets.

But that's not a straightforward assumption.

I'll write up a more detailed account of the ACCR v Santos judgement this week, but just pointing out that the judgement makes at least one factual error.

There is no Scope 3 reporting under the NGERs Act.
cer.gov.au/schemes/nati...

Harry’s still in line.

Figurative children, like the ones we have in Parliament.

He is also behind literal children, and ahead of any actual Australians.

A reminder that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor remains 8th in the order of succession for head of state for Australia.

‘The 2026 Oscar Nominated Short Films’ Review: Major Themes, Minor Lengths

jfc, the feature image had me thinking Big Lez had been nominated for an Oscar…
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/m...

Yikes

Not in those terms, but maybe?
"An inability to attract and retain such personnel could occur in the future as a result of Santos’ perceived role in the energy transition."

A "Path to compliance" - which is just making it legal for them to do what they were previously doing illegally.

US mining company Alcoa hit with ‘unprecedented’ $55m penalty for illegal clearing of WA jarrah forests Environment minister says Alcoa cleared known habitat of protected species to enable bauxite mining

What is even going on here.

Govt fines Alcoa for unlawful clearing, but then immediately issues an approval so that further clearing is lawful.
What does Watt think is the purpose of the EPBC Act?
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Santos' profit fell by 25% in 2025.

So in response, they gave the CEO a $4.7 million 'growth' bonus and announced that they will sack 10 per cent of the workforce.