We’re going to court over Adani’s North Galilee Water Scheme

People concerned about the impacts of the mining and coal seam gas industry will have a chance to learn about their legal rights on October 30, when lawyers from the EDO Qld conduct a workshop in Dalby on environmental law.

Minister Hinchliffe has replied to EDO Qld and (in our words) he considers that in light of the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld), changes to the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (Qld) (SPA) are required in order for copies of the development application and supporting material under s728 SPA to be placed online. 

Commonly referred to as the ‘bible for environmental litigants’, EDO Qld’s Community Litigants Handbook provides a step-by-step guide to conducting a planning appeal in the Queensland Planning and Environment Court. In the foreword to the Fourth edition of the Handbook, Judge Michael Rackemann of the Planning and Environment Courts says the Handbook “has proven to be an invaluable resource” and that it “makes a real and substantial contribution to access to environmental justice.”

Ever wondered about how to take on the David and Goliath battle of challenging your local council’s approval of an environmentally damaging development, then a new book has all the answers.

EDO Qld acted for conservationist Carol Booth in an unusual case involving admissions by a fruit grower in the media that he had been electrocuting flying-foxes in defiance of a Queensland Government ban on this method of crop protection. Our client succeeded in obtaining a court order for the dismantlement of the electric grids, although it took two contempt proceedings to achieve the outcome.

Member for Lytton, Paul Lucas, is being urged to support tougher laws to protect koalas and their habitat.

EDO Qld acted for Carol Booth in the first legal action using new third party rights in Queensland’s Nature Conservation Act 1992, achieving dismantlement of electric grids used to illegally kill flying-foxes on a lychee farm.

EDO Qld represented Ruth Woods in a successful planning appeal run jointly with other objectors to a development approval for a football field in a Brisbane park. This case is an example of what can be achieved by a motivated and well-organised community group.