South Australia's power play

Editor's note

A $150 million battery storage facility and a new state-owned gas power station are the key elements of South Australia's new energy policy – a keenly awaited response to the blackouts that have hit its electricity grid. Hugh Saddler wraps up the details, while Jeffrey Sommerfeld explains how the state's new go-it-alone approach will cause headaches for the already creaking National Electricity Market.

We’re also launching a new season of our Business Briefing podcast, with a new format and the first episode exploring how the feelings of everyday Australians influence the property market. What we found is that some in generations X and Y are just as aggressive (or more so) than baby boomers when it comes to property investing.

Michael Hopkin

Environment + Energy Editor

Top story

SA energy minister Tom Koutsantonis outlines his plan to make his state more energy-independent. AAP Image/David Mariuz

South Australia makes a fresh power play in its bid to end the blackouts

Hugh Saddler, Australian National University

South Australia has unveiled its keenly awaited energy plan, featuring battery storage, a state-owned gas power station, and a thumb of the nose to the federal electricity rules.

Environment + Energy

South Australia's energy plan gives national regulators another headache

Jeffrey Sommerfeld, Queensland University of Technology

South Australia is investing $550 million in a plan to improve the reliability of its electricity. But the side-effect is that the National Electricity Market will now be even harder to run.
Turnbull to gas industry: give the local market more supply

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday will pressure the gas industry to increase the supply available to the domestic market, as the government scrambles to get together a viable national energy policy.
Why the free market hasn't slashed power prices (and what to do about it)

Tony Wood, Grattan Institute

Electricity retailers need to make their prices and offers more transparent and easier for customers to understand, or risk having to submit to price regulation to drive down bills.

Education

Educational disadvantage is a huge problem in Australia – we can't just carry on the same

Laura Perry, Murdoch University

Continuing the status quo will not reduce disadvantage, and over time may even increase it.
Science curriculum needs to do more to engage primary school students

Russell Tytler, Deakin University; Vaughan Prain, Deakin University

What is the point of science knowledge if you are not likely to use it once you leave school?

Business + Economy

Business Briefing: how the attitudes of the next generation are changing the property market

Jenni Henderson, The Conversation; Josh Nicholas, The Conversation

There's been a shift in attitudes to the property market over generations, from owning a home as a right, to owning a home as a commodity.
Explainer: how the Australian dollar affects the results of companies

Dirk Baur, University of Western Australia

The Australian dollar is special among the major currencies as it generally moves along with the prices of commodities. Because of this the dollar affects companies in different ways.

Politics + Society

Should wealthy private schools and hospitals have charity status in Australia?

Matthew Harding, University of Melbourne

In a world where educational opportunity is unjustly distributed, there are questions as to whether private schools should be exempt from paying income tax.
Explainer: why are donations to some charities tax-deductible?

Fiona Anne Martin, UNSW

The current system of determining which organisations can receive tax-deductible donations and which cannot is overly complex and ad hoc.
Contested spaces: living next door to Alice (and Anh and Abdullah)

Edgar Liu, UNSW; Christina Ho, University of Technology Sydney; Hazel Easthope, UNSW

As increasing diversity and density come to characterise our cities, how can we build harmonious communities within apartment complexes?
How to cut Australia's $48 billion crime bill

Rick Sarre, University of South Australia

We need to redirect government spending on crime prevention to programs and policies that the research tells us are most effective.

Arts + Culture
Brutalism, a campus love story – or how I learned to love concrete Eduardo de la Fuente, James Cook University Academics are often in the vanguard of the fight to preserve heritage buildings but they are losing the battle on home turf as universities shed their 1960s and 1970s concrete skins.

Health + Medicine

Weekly Dose: ayahuasca, a cautionary tale for tourists eager to try this shamanic brew

Stephen Bright, Edith Cowan University; David Caldicott, Australian National University

Shaman have used the psychoactive effects of ayahuasca for spiritual and healing purposes for hundreds of years. But a new breed of tourist has discovered this plant-based drug.
Banning unvaccinated kids from child care may have unforeseen consequences

C Raina MacIntyre, UNSW

A push for all unvaccinated kids to be excluded from day care is coercive, punishes families and has no evidence to back it. Here's what we can do instead to boost vaccination rates.
Does gluten prevent type 2 diabetes? Probably not

Duane Mellor, University of Canberra; Cathy Knight-Agarwal, University of Canberra

This new study could make it seem that gluten intake is protective against developing type 2 diabetes. But there's a more likely explanation.

Science + Technology
From disaster planning to conservation: mobile phones as a new tracking tool Rob Harcourt, Macquarie University; Carlos Duarte, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Mark Meekan, Australian Institute of Marine Science You can learn a lot about the movement of people and animals if you tap into the tracking data from many of today's mobile phones.