Australia
AUS · 2024 energy mix · renewables 14.7% · fossil fuels 85.3%
Threat reading 53 of 100, classified HIGH THREAT, HOLDING. 832 events recorded here in the last seven days, 832 in the last thirty.
That number is computed from live feeds and moves. The live monitor is where to read it as of right now.
Where its energy comes from
| Oil | 37.4% |
|---|---|
| Coal | 25.5% |
| Gas | 22.3% |
| Solar | 7.4% |
| Wind | 4.8% |
| Hydro | 1.9% |
| Other renewables | 0.6% |
In 2024, renewables accounted for 14.7% and fossil fuels for 85.3%. On electricity traded with its neighbours, Australia is close to balanced on electricity trade.
Sources under one per cent of the mix are left out of the table rather than listed as a row of zeroes. Percentages are shares of a country's primary energy, not of the power it generates.
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 34 significant earthquakes and 6 tsunamis in or just off Australia since 1859.
The deadliest was the 27 December 1989 magnitude 5.4 earthquake (Australia: Newcastle), which killed 12 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 8.2, on 23 May 1989 (Macquarie Island: Macquarie Station; New Zealand).
The most recent entry is the 21 September 2021 magnitude 5.9 earthquake (Australia: Melbourne).
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 December 1989 | magnitude 5.4 earthquake | Australia: Newcastle | 12 dead, $1,000 million damage |
| 23 May 1989 | magnitude 8.2 earthquake | Macquarie Island: Macquarie Station; New Zealand | damage under $1 million |
| 23 December 2004 | magnitude 8.1 earthquake | Australia: Macquarie Island | - |
| 18 June 2000 | magnitude 7.9 earthquake | Australia: S, Cocos Islands | - |
| 6 September 1943 | magnitude 7.9 earthquake | Australia: Macquarie Island | - |
| 3 October 1926 | magnitude 7.9 earthquake | Australia: Macquarie Island: North of | - |
| 26 June 1924 | magnitude 7.8 earthquake | Australia: Macquarie Island | - |
| 19 November 1906 | magnitude 7.8 earthquake | Australia: West Coast | - |
| 3 September 1987 | magnitude 7.7 earthquake | Australia: Macquarie Island | - |
| 11 June 1970 | magnitude 7.6 earthquake | Australia: Macquarie Island | - |
| 24 July 1924 | magnitude 7.5 earthquake | Australia: Macquarie Island: North of | - |
| 14 October 1968 | magnitude 6.8 earthquake | Australia: Meckering, Northam, Cunderdin, York | $3 million damage |
| 22 January 1988 | magnitude 6.7 earthquake | Australia: Tennant Creek | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 22 January 1988 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | Australia: Tennant Creek | $1 million damage |
| 10 May 1897 | magnitude 6.2 earthquake | Australia: Beachport, Robe, Kingston, Mount Gambier | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 2 June 1979 | magnitude 6.1 earthquake | Australia: Western | $2 million damage |
| 31 January 1907 | magnitude 6.0 earthquake | Australia: Tasmania | - |
| 19 September 1902 | magnitude 6.0 earthquake | Australia: Warooka | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 21 September 2021 | magnitude 5.9 earthquake | Australia: Melbourne | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 5 January 1885 | magnitude 5.8 earthquake | Australia: Geraldton | - |
| 21 May 1961 | magnitude 5.6 earthquake | Australia: New South Wales | $1 million damage |
| 12 April 1910 | tsunami (waves to 2.1 m) | Northern Australia | damage under $1 million |
| 6 August 1994 | magnitude 5.3 earthquake | Australia: New South Wales | $30 million damage |
| 9 March 1973 | magnitude 5.3 earthquake | Australia: Wollongong, Sydney | $1 million damage |
| 18 June 1868 | magnitude 5.3 earthquake | Australia: Maitland | damage $1 to 5 million |
These are the 25 deadliest and largest of 40 entries. A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
In the last 30 days
The most recent events our feeds placed in Australia:
- 7 November 2026: M 3.5 - NEAR S.E. COAST OF AUSTRALIA
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
- 7 November 2026: Forest fires in Australia
What the threat reading is made of
| Conflict | 0 |
|---|---|
| Unrest | 0 |
| Security | 0 |
| Spillover from neighbours | 3 |
| Natural hazard | 90 |
| Resilience | 83 |
Each is 0 to 100. Resilience runs the other way to the rest: a high number is a country better able to absorb a shock, not a country in more trouble.
Other countries tracked
Where the data comes from
Energy mix, 2024: Our World in Data, energy dataset (https://github.com/owid/energy-data), compiled by Pablo Rosado, Hannah Ritchie, Edouard Mathieu and Max Roser from the Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Ember and The Shift Dataportal. Licence: Our World in Data's own compilation is CC BY 4.0. The underlying figures stay under their original terms: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, U.S. EIA, Ember and The Shift Dataportal. The percentages shown here and the wording are ours. Threat reading: computed by Rift Web from the feeds listed on the sources page.