Nick Toscano
Nick Toscano covers the fault lines where Australia’s energy transition, big resources companies and federal politics meet. As a business journalist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, he focuses on how decisions by power generators, gas producers and miners flow through to power prices, investment, and the pace of decarbonisation. His reporting combines day-to-day market coverage with investigations into corporate conduct and workplace relations.
Energy, gas and the transition off coal
Toscano’s core run is energy and resources, with a particular emphasis on gas policy, electricity markets and the infrastructure needed to move beyond coal. His coverage tracks court battles over how fossil fuel companies describe their products, including greenwashing claims about natural gas as “clean energy” and the regulatory consequences when those descriptions are challenged. He regularly reports on forecasts of household power price rises, explaining when and why bills are expected to increase if governments and networks do not deliver renewables, transmission lines and storage quickly enough.
He follows how major power companies position themselves on net zero, reporting in detail when energy utilities back a renewable-dominated grid and setting out their arguments on cost, reliability and political risk.
His stories on record surges in clean energy investment and the downgrading of blackout risks as renewables and batteries come online are framed around what this means for Australia’s remaining coal fleet and the timing of coal retirements. Toscano also writes about large-scale projects that underpin the transition, such as long undersea transmission cables designed to connect renewable-rich regions to demand centres, and approvals for gas and export projects that test the balance between climate commitments and supply security.
Across these pieces he tends to work in a straight, news-led format, but the subject matter is often contested.
His articles explain the technical and policy detail of gas approvals, market forecasts and grid planning, while foregrounding the positions of companies, regulators and governments. That through-line - energy transition as a business story with political and legal stakes - distinguishes his coverage from more general business reporting.
Mining, resources and decarbonisation
Toscano extends this energy lens into mining and heavy industry, focusing on how large resources companies handle climate pressure and emerging technologies. His reporting on miners “tapping the brakes” on decarbonisation looks at the tension between earlier net-zero pledges and more recent caution on capital spending, timelines and technology risk. He explores debates around new production processes such as “green iron” in the Pilbara, treating them as both industrial innovation stories and tests of whether legacy export regions can avoid becoming stranded or economically hollowed out.
He covers major legal and environmental liabilities in the sector, including landmark rulings that hold large mining companies responsible for overseas disasters and open the door to compensation for affected communities. These pieces show how environmental, social and governance issues play out as concrete financial and legal exposures for corporate boards.
Toscano also reports on campaigns by pipeline operators and other infrastructure firms, scrutinising advertising that overstates how quickly “climate-friendly” fuels will reach homes and how such messaging is used to defend existing business models.
The resources coverage is driven by specific cases and projects rather than broad industry overviews. He uses court judgments, project approvals and corporate strategy updates to show where miners and energy companies are accelerating or slowing climate action, and how those decisions ripple through markets and regional economies.
Workplace relations and investigative reporting
Toscano brings a long investigative track record on workplace relations and corporate misconduct to his current beat. He has reported extensively on business workplace relations and the labour movement, producing major series on wage deals that left young retail and fast-food workers underpaid and on underpayment scandals described as the country’s biggest.
His work on these issues has been recognised with multiple national journalism awards, including Walkley Awards and the Grant Hattam Quill for Investigative Journalism.
Earlier investigations such as the exposure of wellness entrepreneur Belle Gibson’s fabricated cancer story and charity claims, and in-depth reporting on misconduct at major casino operator Crown, show a pattern of scrutinising powerful institutions and testing their public narratives against evidence. These investigations connect directly to his current focus: they inform how he approaches claims by energy and resources companies about climate credentials, worker treatment and community impacts.
In workplace and industrial relations stories, Toscano typically anchors his reporting in documents, regulatory findings and detailed interviews with affected workers and insiders. The format ranges from long-form investigations to closely written news pieces on new claims, inquiries or court decisions. This investigative discipline continues to sit just under the surface of his energy and business reporting, shaping the way he treats corporate communications and political talking points.
Explainers and national business coverage
Alongside his print work, Toscano appears in audio explainers discussing gas supply, market conditions and the politics around energy policy, distilling complex issues into short, accessible segments.
He is described in public profiles as a national business journalist, reflecting a remit that is not confined to a single city or company but spans federal politics, major corporates and sector-wide trends. Previous rounds in general news, education, crime and workplace reporting give him a broad frame for situating energy and resources stories within wider social and economic debates.
Across all these strands, the defining feature of Toscano’s work is his focus on how business decisions in energy, resources and workplaces intersect with regulation, politics and lived consequences, and his willingness to follow those threads into detailed, document-based reporting.
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