The government has issued a revised National Policy Statement for ports, published on 6 July, introducing a stronger presumption in favour of granting development consent orders (DCOs) for port projects. The update is expected to shorten examination and decision timelines for nationally significant infrastructure, particularly for deep-water berths, container terminals and associated road and rail links. Port sponsors and their geotechnical and civil teams can now place greater weight on NPS conformity in design development, environmental impact assessments and land-side ground engineering strategies.

Australia’s planned $28 billion critical minerals package targets new domestic processing and refining capacity to cut exposure to highly concentrated offshore supply, particularly for battery and magnet metals. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King told the National Security College at the Australian National University that Australia must move beyond raw ore exports into value-added stages such as hydrometallurgical refining and precursor production. For miners and processors, the signal is stronger policy backing for downstream plants, long-term offtake structures and supply-chain security aligned with national security objectives.

Several sites in Scotland have been flagged as technically suitable for new nuclear power stations in a UK Government-commissioned siting study, despite the Scottish Government’s current opposition to new nuclear build. The assessment focuses on factors such as coastal locations with access to large-volume cooling water, seismic stability and low flood risk, and proximity to the existing 400kV transmission network. For civil and geotechnical teams, the work signals where future detailed site investigations, coastal defence design and grid-connection studies may be requested if policy barriers ease.