According to The Australian Financial Review, travel experiences marketplace Travello has closed its largest funding round to date, just two years after its founders were forced to take a pay cut to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
A bounce back in leisure travel has led Travello to increase revenue seven times above pre-COVID-19 levels, enabling it raise $10 million in fresh funding, in a round led by the Queensland Investment Corporation and with participation from Paspalis Innovation Investment Fund.
Mr Hanly said the youth travel market was now wide open in Australia and the fresh funding would let it make acquisitions to grow its scale. It also intends expand into new categories including outbound multi-day tours.
“We are currently growing at 25 per cent monthly and have recorded over 1000 per cent growth in bookings,” he said.

https://www.afr.com/technology/travel-start-up-that-cut-costs-to-survive-covid-now-7x-bigger-20221005-p5bnda

 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Sydney’s already pricey house-and-land packages are set to get even more expensive over the next few years unless more land is rezoned for housing, and speedily delivered over the coming years, the Urban Development Institute of Australia has warned.
The UDIA NSW’s Greenfield Land Supply Pipeline Report identified a shortfall of 20,100 housing lots by fiscal 2030 across the Sydney mega-region (an area from Illawarra-Shoalhaven to the Hunter) even if developers were able to deliver around 130,000 housing lots “programmed for delivery” over the next eight years.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/undersupply-of-lots-to-send-sydney-house-and-land-prices-soaring-20221018-p5bqmg

 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Western Australia is a step closer to having a new port at Oakajee on the Mid West coast after doling out land to BP and the green energy offshoot of Fortescue Metals Group for green hydrogen projects.
The British oil and gas giant and Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) were each granted 220 hectares of land for green hydrogen and green ammonia processing alongside the proposed port. 
The WA government said FFI was eyeing its land grant for a green ammonia plant but had also talked about a green iron project in the state’s Mid West region.
BP has set its sights on an export-scale green hydrogen and ammonia production facility based on the positive findings of its feasibility study into the potential around Oakajee.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/bp-fortescue-handed-portside-land-for-hydrogen-projects-20221018-p5bqr8

 

According to The Australian Financial Review, it should not be a surprise that Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is making a whistle-stop trip to Western Australia to seek personal assurance from Anthony Albanese that there is no risk to the 65 per cent of Japan’s coal and 36 per cent of its LNG that comes from Australia.
Australia’s Asian model is now set to become a green Asian model as the coal and gas is augmented and then replaced by hydrogen and new age metals for electrification. But Japan’s current anxiety shows that a successful energy transition depends equally on investment in fossil fuels being maintained until renewables fill in the gap.
There are a lot of resources in the world, but far fewer reputations for reliability. That is an asset in Japan’s eyes that Australia must guard.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/keeping-trust-with-tokyo-20221020-p5brho
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, a top Japanese business leader and former head of Nippon Steel says Australian coal and gas will remain vital for Japan’s energy needs for decades, but fears the lack of new investment in fossil fuels threatens the country’s energy security.
Akio Mimura, the chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce of Industry who has overseen major investments in Australia, said it was vital that Japan maintained secure supplies of energy sources with Australia at a time when his country’s power needs looked increasingly fragile.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/japan-s-industry-urges-secure-supplies-of-australian-energy-20221012-p5bpd0

 

According to The Australian Financial Review, a pharmaceutical solution is on the horizon for Australian farmers under pressure to reduce methane emissions from cattle and other livestock.
The pharmaceutical breakthrough comes amid growing pains with the CSIRO-developed seaweed solution backed by Andrew Forrest, Woolworths and GrainCorp.
Farmers are desperate for a cheap, reliable and practical methane-busting feed additive, with Australia set to sign up to US president Joe Biden’s pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/methane-busting-pharma-solution-for-cattle-industry-20221013-p5bph0

According to The Australian Financial Review, the rapid rise in interest rates and sharp falls in house prices may have spooked many investors, but some seasoned landlords are now taking advantage of the lull in the market to bulk up their portfolios.
Sydney-based investor and founder of buyer’s agency InvestorKit, Arjun Paliwal, said improving rental yields and the prospect of stabilising interest rates were proving irresistible to some.
“We’ve seen heightened inquiries from experienced investors in the recent months because yields are becoming attractive, and many of them feel like they might be missing out on opportunities to pick up properties with improving rents. They also want to get in before the rest of the pack catch on,” he said.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/why-seasoned-property-investors-are-back-in-the-market-buying-20221013-p5bpmj
 

Australia hopes to revive the country’s post-pandemic tourism industry with a fresh marketing campaign to draw travellers from Japan and other parts of the world, making up for some of the lost revenue from big-spending Chinese visitors.
Trade Minister Don Farrell said he expected pent-up demand from foreign tourists to visit would kick in once ticket prices fell and airlines put on more flights.
The new campaign was revealed on a giant billboard in Tokyo’s popular Shinjuku district of bars and restaurants recently. Featuring an animated kangaroo named Ruby, the slogan is “Come and say G’day”.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/australia-looks-to-reboot-international-tourism-with-new-campaign-20221011-p5bova

According to The Australian Financial Review, Woodside Energy has signalled it will consider using its pre-emption rights against a shock move by Japan’s Tokyo Gas to transfer its interest in the Pluto LNG project in Western Australia – part of a broader $US2.15 billion ($3.37 billion) deal announced recently – to US private equity firm EIG.
Tokyo Gas’ 5 per cent stake in Pluto is one of four minority interests held by the giant Japanese LNG buyer in Australian LNG projects that are set to pass to EIG’s new MidOcean Energy subsidiary in what is the first significant sign of a Japanese firm exiting gas ventures driven partly by the need to cut emissions.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/tokyo-gas-sells-australian-lng-stakes-in-3-4b-deal-20221008-p5bo7j

According to The Australian Financial Review, trade Minister Don Farrell has reassured Japan that Australia is a committed energy trading partner after Tokyo raised concerns that a global commodity shortage could lead to vital gas supplies being diverted for domestic use.
In a speech to an Australia-Japan business forum in Tokyo recently, Mr Farrell also pitched Australia as a world leader for supplying hydrogen and an alternative source to China of critical minerals.
“We take our role as a key energy trade partner for Japan seriously, and are committed to maintaining this partnership,” Mr Farrell said on his first official visit to Japan.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/australia-assures-japan-it-can-count-on-energy-supply-20221009-p5bodd