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Environmental Defenders Office

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23.01.2022 The peoples of Wagina in Solomon Islands have won a historic battle against a proposed bauxite mine development! The proposed mine would have taken up 60% of their island home and created unacceptable and irreversible environmental impacts, threatening around 2000 residents who rely on the sea and land for their livelihood. Our International Program supported the Landowners Advocacy and Legal Support Unit (LALSU) within the Solomon Islands Public Solicitor’s Office (PSO) to bring the historic case to the Environment Advisory Committee, representing Mr Tebukewa Mereki on behalf of the peoples of Wagina.

23.01.2022 Bushfire survivors will be allowed to present expert scientific evidence on climate change in our landmark case against the NSW Environmental Protection Authority, the Land and Environment Court has ruled. It’s the first time an Australian court has ruled on whether evidence on climate change can be allowed to be heard in a case involving an alleged failure by a government agency to perform a statutory duty. We're taking action against the NSWEPA to encourage and, if necessar...y, compel it to develop policies to measure and regulate greenhouse gases in the state. Read more:

22.01.2022 This NAIDOC week, with its theme of ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’ is an important time to reflect on cultural heritage laws in Australia. Senior Solicitor Lauren Butterly writes that, 'cultural heritage laws must be judged against the fundamental principle that Aboriginal people must give their free, prior and informed consent in relation to decisions that impact protection of their heritage.' Read more:

21.01.2022 This week we celebrate NAIDOC Week 2020, with its theme of 'Always Was, Always Will be'. This theme recognises that First Nations peoples have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years and are spiritually and culturally connected to this country. It comes as EDO is advising a group of Aboriginal women, who are appealing to the Federal Environment Minister to step in and enforce legal protections on the ancient Butterfly Cave site, which is under threat from ...a housing development. Read more:

21.01.2022 "Water experts and conservationists condemn government handling of fast-tracked dam plan as a ‘disgrace’ and terrible for environment. "While no business case or environmental impact statements are yet complete, project managers have been appointed and calls for tender went out in June. "The dam would also destroy a number of important Indigenous sites, which in the wake of the destruction of Juukan Gorge by Rio Tinto would be controversial, said Emma Carmody, the Environment...al Defenders Office’s special counsel. "Raising the dam wall will have significant environmental impacts, including on wetlands that provide habitat for migratory and other threatened species. It will also unforgivably result in the destruction of cultural heritage sites. The Environmental Defenders Office is therefore assessing the legality of the project from a variety of angles, she said." More below.

20.01.2022 We need very rapid and very deep reductions in global emissions to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change. That is why we’re stepping up our work to protect the climate and approaching the fight in new, innovative ways. In Northern NSW, we have spent years helping the community fight against the massive 850-well Santos Narrabri Gas Project that threatens the water, land and climate that farmers depend on. ... Now we are helping clients take the legal fight against companies directly to the boardrooms and directors who sit in them, the people behind the companies that greenlight these damaging projects. These business leaders are making decisions in closed boardrooms that affect every one of us, and people around the world who stand to be impacted by a warming climate. Together with you, we’re now not only the environmental watchdogs ensuring gas projects adhere to environmental laws, we’re using corporate and consumer law to help clients fight them on a whole new front. Click here to find out more: https://www.edo.org.au/edo-gas-map/

20.01.2022 NEW CASE LAUNCH In our second case launch this week, EDO will be heading to court on behalf of the community to appeal an approval for Santos' massive Narrabri Gas Project in north west NSW. In September, the NSW Independent Planning Commission granted staged approval for the Santos-owned project, involving hundreds of CSG wells over a 95,000-hectare area near Narrabri.... The 25-year Narrabri Gas Project would contribute greenhouse gas emissions in the order of 127 million tonnes (CO2 equivalent), at a time when the science says there is an urgent need for rapid emissions reductions. On behalf of the Mullaley Gas and Pipeline Accord (MGPA), EDO has now lodged Class 4 Judicial Review proceedings over the approval in the NSW Land and Environment Court. Our clients will ask the court to find that the IPC erred in its decision making, including because it failed to properly assess the climate impacts from this project, and is asking the court to find the approval is invalid. Read more about this crucial appeal here: https://www.edo.org.au//community-files-appeal-against-sa/

18.01.2022 We’re putting the energy industry on notice. New gas is a backward step for Australian clean energy. It’s time to hold the decision-makers in the big energy companies to account.... We have brought together a new team of expert commercial law litigators, not just to work alongside communities on the ground as we have in the past, but to take the fight a step further, into the boardroom. It’s a game-changing move a brand new purpose-built team of corporate lawyers laser-focused on holding companies and their directors to account for the damage they do to our communities and climate. Swipe to meet the team and click here to learn more on their focus: https://www.edo.org.au/edo-gas-map/

16.01.2022 Come join us at the Australian Earth Laws Alliance 2020 Online Conference tomorrow! A panel of EDO solicitors will be presenting digitally at the Australian Earth Laws Alliance Conference this Wednesday 2pm-3.30pm (Brisbane time). We will be providing an overview of EDO's work across Australia and the Pacific, defending the environment and cultural heritage protections via development laws, human rights laws, seeking legal personhood for environments and Indigenous rights t...o speak for and protect their country. This will be a great chance to catch up on what's going on at EDO! More info here: https://www.earthlaws.org.au/events/earth-sea-fire-spirit/

14.01.2022 Update on the Narrabri Gas Project appeal Turn on sound to listen We've been given permission by the Court to file expert evidence from Professor Penny Sackett. Our clients, the Mullaley Gas and Pipeline Accord (MGPA), said "The decision is significant because expert evidence is rarely permitted in a judicial review case such as this."... "Santos opposed the MGPA's application on the basis that expert evidence was not required in the proceedings. "The MGPA farmers, represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, are arguing the IPC did not assess the gasfield's climate impacts in a way that was consistent with the law and failed to assess the impacts of an external pipeline which would be needed to transport the gas."

12.01.2022 A win for the Great Barrier Reef! A proposal to clear more than 2,000 hectares of native vegetation at Kingvale Station, in the GBR catchment has been refused. EDO has worked with our clients, the Environment Council of Central Queensland since 2018 to oppose the proposal.... In making the decision to refuse the project, Environment Minister Sussan Ley looked at its likely significant impacts on threatened species and ecological communities. Read more:

11.01.2022 Recently, the Interim Report of the Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge was released. The Interim Report made strong recommendations including restitution for the destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters and replacing the current WA legislation. In the blog below, our Perth Senior Solicitor Dr Lauren Butterly explores the Report's key interim findings on WA's Cultural Heritage Laws and the chance at hand to get crucial reforms right. Click to read more!

08.01.2022 Water is life, we must protect it! Today marks World Water Day which raises awareness about the global water crisis. EDO now has a dedicated Freshwater Team that is working with clients across Australia to achieve water justice in a changing climate.... We are dedicated to enforcing existing laws and where necessary, to reforming them. Our growing team of legal and policy experts works to ensure that water management is genuinely sustainable and advances the values, rights and interests of First Nations Peoples.

08.01.2022 TOMORROW, THURSDAY 26th NOVEMBER. We're launching our major new policy paper 'Empowering the NSW EPA to prevent climate pollution' with this FREE webinar. Speakers: - EDO CEO David Morris - Head of Policy and Law Reform Rachel Walmsley... - Senior Policy and Law Reform Solicitor Cerin Loane Registration details below:

08.01.2022 Our Black Summer of bushfires killed thousands of koalas in NSW, and burned many thousands of hectares of koala habitat. Despite this, the logging of native forests - both burned and unburned - continues. Senior Solicitor Emily Long looks at recent expert reports obtained by EDO and asks whether "at a time when animals that have survived the fires need support to recover and persist in the environment, should we be removing what little habitat remains?"

07.01.2022 A shocking example of why our environmental laws are failing us, and how the government’s own environmental experts are seemingly ignored by other decision-makers. This report from ABC’s 7.30 reveals how Queensland’s Environment Department was apparently disregarded by the state’s Coordinator-General in the environmental assessment process for a massive central Queensland coal mine, after it raised serious concerns over the project’s impacts on our precious water resources. ...The huge Olive Downs Coking Coal Project is slated to be the third-largest mine in the state, sitting atop the Isaac River and impacting 4000 hectares of floodplain. In 2018 and 2019 the Environment Department raised serious concerns about the risk of the mine leaving massive voids across a floodplain in a Great Barrier Reef catchment area, as well as a lack of sufficient information to properly assess and condition those impacts. Despite these concerns the Coordinator-General recommended approval of the mine with mandatory conditions that provide for final voids to be left on the floodplains, leading to the Environment Department issuing an approval in line with the recommendation. This report raises grave concerns about environmental approvals processes at a state level, and is a prime example of why we need to fix the gaps in our environmental laws and governance. It also gives yet another example of why we should maintain separate environmental approval processes for federal environmental legislation and not devolve these powers to state and territory governments. https://www.abc.net.au//pembroke-olive-downs-coal/13226368

06.01.2022 Today marks the 110th anniversary of celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD), and EDO would like to take the opportunity to recognise the incredible contribution that women make to our society, and to this organisation. Please read our full International Women's Day statement here: https://www.edo.org.au/2021/03/08/4052/

06.01.2022 Right now, many of Australia’s unique animals are under threat because of gas developments and exploration occurring across our country. That’s why we’re taking action working with local communities in their legal fights against gas projects that are damaging and dangerous to our country and our future. A ‘gas-led’ recovery pushes Australia towards catastrophic climate change and irreversible environmental damage. ... We don’t want to live in a world where our native wildlife, like quolls, bilbies and bats are extinct. Or where we no longer see dolphins or whales in our oceans. But together, we can take action across Australia, on the ground, fighting the legal fight on behalf of community groups, Traditional Owners and everyday Australians. Find out more: edo.org.au/gas-map

05.01.2022 Monday was World Water Day, where we reflect on the urgent water crisis here and around the world. Despite recent rains, Australia’s most important river system the Murray-Darling - remains in critical condition in the face of the dual perils of climate change and over-extraction. EDO’s Freshwater Team works with clients along the basin, including First Nations Peoples, to both enforce and reform the laws that govern how water is used. ... Watch below as Barkindji elder Uncle Badger Bates describes his connection to the Barka/Darling river and his fight to protect it:

03.01.2022 We've joined forces with the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Queensland Conservation Council to release a new report outlining the many benefits that can be gained from legislating a solid governance framework to ensure Queensland does its bit to reduce emissions and therefore reduce the risks of dangerous climate change impacts. A Climate Act sends a clear signal that the government is committed to action to reduce our emissions, which provides certainty and confi...dence for business and civil society, and helps to drive low-carbon investment and innovation and lower the cost of a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Through clear accountability mechanisms, a Climate Act can ensure Queensland proactively responds to climate change risk and reduces its greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors, consistent with the overarching aim of the Queensland Government’s climate change response. Download and read the full report here: https://www.edo.org.au//10/15/a-climate-act-for-queensland/ #AClimateActforQLD #climateact #climateactnow

03.01.2022 Walgett’s Dharriwaa Elders Group, Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations and the Environmental Defenders Office collaborated to make a joint submission responding to a call by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment for input to a report on Too Dirty, Too Little, Too Much: The Global Water Crisis and Human Rights. The health of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is in decline due to the ongoing over-extraction of water and climate change, with some catchments and wetlands facing ecosystem collapse. This decline has had a particular impact on Aboriginal communities who have experienced multiple waves of water dispossession since colonisation. You can read our full submission here: https://www.edo.org.au//edo-and-clients-lodge-joint-submi/

03.01.2022 In a rare win for koala conservation, a controversial bill that would have reduced protections for koala habitat on private land in New South Wales has been defeated in parliament. The Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2020 is expected to be withdrawn after Liberal MP Catherine Cusack voted against it last night. EDO Head of Policy and Law Reform Rachel Walmsley, says the NSW government must now ensure parliament puts in place evidence-based protections to protect ...our iconic koalas for generations to come. Read more:

02.01.2022 The NSW Government has again moved to change legislation that governs how critical koala habitat is protected across the state. It comes after a political stand-off between the NSW Liberal Party and their coalition partners the Nationals last year. While details of the new proposals are not yet known, it’s clear koalas will be back on the political agenda in 2021. ... Our Senior Solicitor Cerin Loane analyses what this latest development could mean for these iconic animals and their future:

01.01.2022 As 2020 draws to a close with heatwaves and the bushfire season upon us once more, it is timely to reflect on the climate law reform progress that we have seen this year, and to be clear on what is needed when parliaments resume in the new year. EDO has continued to recommend climate law reform for NSW, Queensland, and the Northern Territory, and provided expert analysis on Western Australian climate policy. Momentum is building, with multi-party support for legislation fac...ilitating investment in renewable energy in NSW, relinquishment of using carry-over Kyoto credits to meet Australia’s current commitments, and a private members’ bill proposed for a framework Climate Change Act at the national level. A fundamentally important issue for climate law reform is setting effective and binding emissions reduction targets in legislation. In this blog, our lawyers examine this critical challenge and explore what targets we urgently need and why; and how to do this in law. Read more below.