The Land and Environment Court of NSW (LEC) has found that the NSW Environment Protection Authority (NSW EPA) has a statutory duty to develop environmental quality objectives, guidelines and policies to ensure environment protection from climate change, and has ordered it to develop such policies. Read more

The New South Wales Land and Environment Court has granted a development consent subject to conditions requiring PFAS-contaminated material be removed and impacted land remediated. The PFAS-contaminated material had been placed for soil improvement and was discovered during a site view for the proceedings. Read more

Today the Environment Protection Amendment Act 2018 (Vic) commences, which amends the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) (New Act) and ushers in a new approach to environmental protection in Victoria. Read more

The recent decision of Justice Bromberg in Sharma v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560 found that a novel duty of care is owed by the Minister for the Environment to Australian children who might suffer potential “catastrophic harm” from the climate change implications of approving the extension to the Vickery coal mine in … Read more

The Commonwealth government has released draft National Environmental Standards (NES) for Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES). Read more

The High Court has upheld an appeal against New Acland Coal’s applications to extend the New Acland open-cut coal mine. The applications must now be determined afresh as a result of apprehended bias in the Land Court of Queensland. Read more

Our prediction: The legal landscape is shifting away from being a roadblock to investment and towards facilitating upward momentum in the development space. Read more

The settlement this week of Mr McVeigh’s proceeding against REST has underlined management of climate risk and TCFD-aligned disclosure as growing issues for institutional investors. Other recent developments include a further post-approval challenge to a coal mine, asserting that new expert evidence regarding climate change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef should be taken into account to revoke the approval decision and prosecution for import of synthetic greenhouse gas where a single offence attracted an agreed penalty of $500,000. Read more