Australians love their power tools. The proliferation of Bunnings Warehouses, the ever present suburban hum of leaf-blowers and lawn-mowers, and row upon row of obsessively manicured nature strips all bear testimony to that fact. And, like our cars, we seem to like them petrol powered.

An alliance of Australia’s top environmental NGOs, formed to oppose the development of what would be the nation’s largest coal mine in northern Queensland, has seized on the resignation of federal resources minister, Matt Canavan, as an opportunity for the Turnbull government to appoint an energy agnostic replacement, and to drop its support for the controversial Adani coal project.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill was in a pugnacious mood at the launch of Climate Wars, the new book by Labor’s shadow climate minister Mark Butler, and let fly at the ‘rightwing f***wits’ (his words) that were keen to use any event to attack renewables.

The title of Australia’s largest solar farm under construction will switch from Queensland to South Australia this week when Reach Solar issues a notice to proceed with the second stage of its Bungala solar farm near Port Augusta.