Access to Justice

EDO NSW has produced a number of resources and undertakes law reform work on access to justice. You can read our submissions, discussion papers and briefing notes below.

EDO NSW represents individuals and community groups in public interest litigation to protect the environment. Read about our past cases.

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Merits Review in Planning in NSW
June 2016

This EDO NSW special report responds to community concerns about the loss of their right to appeal approvals of large resource extraction projects. The report demonstrates that merits review is an essential part of a well-functioning planning system, and shows that there are clear benefits to allowing third party merits review for major projects in NSW.

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submissions
Proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement - EDOs of Australia submission October 2016 - Download PDF The Proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has a chapter on the environment (chapter 20). Our submission makes recommendations on national environmental laws can be improved in response to the proposals outlined in chapter 20. It also makes recommendations on improving access to justice, and notes the impacts that Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions of the Agreement could have on environmental law and policy reform in Australia. Tweet
Issues Paper on Consultation and Transparency Requirements for Offshore Petroleum Activities in Commonwealth Waters - EDOs of Australia submission April 2016 - Download PDF In our submission we make a range of recommendations on how offshore petroleum regulation can be strengthened to meet the standards required under Australian environmental law, including: Offshore petroleum project proposals and Environment Plans should be required to identify matters of national environmental significance that may be affected by the project. Environment Plans should be required to include information about the proponent’s environmental history, including details of any legal proceedings taken against the proponent. Environment Plans should be required to be placed on public exhibition for a minimum of 30 working days. Standing provisions that reflect those in the EPBC Act should be included in the legislation. This would allow conservation groups and individual ‘third parties’ to seek judicial review of a decision to approve an Environment Plan that does not comply with the Regulations. Tweet
ANEDO submission to the Freedoms Inquiry on Traditional Rights and Freedoms—Encroachments by Commonwealth Laws EDOs of Australia has written submissions responding to two reports produced by the Australian Law Reform Commission as part of the ‘Freedoms Inquiry’. Submission 1: 27 February 2015 - Download PDF Our first submission explains why strong environmental laws are necessary, and argues that existing laws do not unduly encroach on private interests. Submission 2: 21 September 2015 - Download PDF Our second submission sets out how the EPBC Act and the Water Act respond to modern environmental challenges, and why they are needed if Australia is to meet its international legal obligations. It also provides clear evidence that these Acts do not unduly infringe private property rights, and in certain instances actually protect private property from the impacts associated with development. Tweet
Submission on EPBC Amendment (Standing) Bill 2015 11 September 2015 - Download PDF EDOs of Australia strongly oppose the EPBC Amendment (Standing) Bill 2015. In our view, passage of the Bill would: reduce oversight of executive actions that affect the national environment – oversight that has operated successfully since the EPBC Act began; disadvantage both conservationists and landholders (as landholders would bear an increased burden for protection of the national environment); diminish public confidence in major environmental decision-making and the rule of law; and further erode the national response to the independent Hawke Review of the EPBC Act (2009) – which supported existing standing rights for judicial review, and proposed that standing be further expanded in other ways. As a starting point for both State and Federal laws, EDOs of Australia supports ‘open standing’ for any person to seek judicial review of government decisions and civil enforcement of breaches. Read our briefing note Who should have standing to protect Matters of National Environmental Significance in Court?, September 2015 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission on Re:think Tax Discussion Paper – Chapter 7 – Not-for-Profit Sector 1 June 2015 - Download PDF Tweet
Accreditation Scheme for Individuals Involved in Threatened Species and Biodiversity Survey and Assessment - Draft for Comment 7 June 2006 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into the Register of Environmental Organisations 21 May 2015 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission on Inquiry into the Commonwealth’s treaty-making process 27 February 2015 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO submission to Federal parliamentary inquiry into environmental regulation April 2014 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission responding to Productivity Commission's inquiry into access to justice November 2013 - Download PDF Supplementary submission July 2014 - Download PDF Tweet
Ratifying the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits 20 April 2011 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission on the Draft Framework of Standards for Accreditation of Environmental Approvals under the EPBC Act 1999 23 November 2012 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission on Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry into Access to Justice 4 May 2009 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission to the independent review of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) 7 December 2012 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission to the NSW Law Reform Commission on costs in public interest litigation 6 September 2012 - Download PDF Tweet
Fees and Charges under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 17 February 2012 - Download PDF Tweet
Fees and Charges under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 - Appendix 1 Survey Response 17 February 2012 - Download PDF Tweet
Review of the Delivery of Legal Assistance Services to the NSW Community 31 October 2011 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission to the NSW Law Reform Commission on Consultation Paper 13 (May 2011) - Security for Costs and Associated Costs Orders 2 September 2011 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission to the Administrative Review Council on Judicial Review in Australia – Consultation Paper 1 July 2011 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission on NSW Government Discussion Paper: Reform of Judicial Review in NSW 20 April 2011 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission on the Product Stewardship Legislation Bill 2011 8 April 2011 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission on the Product Stewardship Legislation Consultation Paper December 2010 - Download PDF Tweet
Discussion paper on Access to Justice in the Land and Environment Court 18 February 2008 - Download PDF Tweet
Inquiry into Sustainable Procurement 26 February 2009 - Download PDF Tweet
Financial Reporting by Unlisted Public Companies 06 August 2007 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission to the NSW Ombudsman on the Freedom of Information Act 1989 14 November 2008 - Contact Us Tweet
Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council - 'human rights and climate change' 24 October 2008 - Download PDF Tweet
Class action reforms - Draft Civil Procedure Amendment (Supreme Court Representative Proceedings) Bill 5 November 2010 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission on corruption risks and the regulation of lobbying in NSW 25 June 2010 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission to the NSW Law Reform Commission on Security for costs and associated costs orders 15 February 2010 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission on the Strategic Framework for Access to Justice in the Federal Civil System 13 November 2009 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission to the Inquiry into the Access to Justice (Civil Litigation Reforms) Amendment Bill 2009 8 September 2009 - Contact Us Tweet
ANEDO Submission to the National Human Rights Consultation 15 June 2009 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission to the Department of Premier and Cabinet, FOI Reform – Open Government Information 3 June 2009 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission to the Privacy and FOI Policy Branch, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 22 May 2009 - Download PDF Tweet
ANEDO Submission on the review of Australia's Future Tax System 29 April 2009 - Download PDF Tweet
Inquiry into Environmental Impact Reporting in the NSW Public Sector 6 November 2007 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission to Productivity Commission Inquiry into Australia's Consumer Policy Framework 11 May 2007 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission on Discussion Paper on Strict and Absolute Liability 9 August 2006 - Download PDF Tweet
Court Imposed Fines and their Enforcement: Submission to the NSW Sentencing Council 8 June 2006 - Download PDF Tweet
Investigation into the burden of regulation in NSW and improving regulatory efficiency Draft Report 17 August 2006 - Download PDF Tweet
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Inquiry into Corporate Social Responsibility 28 September 2005 - Download PDF Tweet
MCMPR Draft Principles for Engagement with Communities and Stakeholders March 2005 - Download PDF Tweet
Investigation into the burden of regulation in NSW and improving regulatory efficiency 24 February 2006 - Download PDF Tweet
Comment on the EFIC Draft Environment Policy 2005 April 2005 - Download PDF Tweet
Submission on the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties inquiry April 2004 - Download PDF Tweet
Inquiry into the definition of charities and related organisations September 2003 - Contact Us Tweet
Review of the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) with Aid/Watch October 2003 - Contact Us Tweet
Trade Practices Act Review June 2002 - Contact Us Tweet
Proposed Corporations Act Amendments March 2003 - Contact Us Tweet

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briefing notes

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discussion papers
Merits Review in Planning in NSW This report demonstrates that merits review is an essential part of the planning system and it is crucial that it continues to be recognised and facilitated in NSW. In addition, there are clear benefits to allowing third party merits review in relation to major projects in NSW. These benefits relate to improving the consistency, quality and accountability of decision-making in environmental matters. In particular, merits review has facilitated the development of an environmental jurisprudence, enabled better outcomes through conditions, provides scrutiny of decisions and fosters natural justice and fairness. Better environmental and social outcomes and decisions based on ecologically sustainable development is the result. Merits review has a long history in NSW, being a key element of planning reforms introduced in 1979 to a politicised and overly-complex system in drastic need for reform. The reforms sought to simplify and improve planning in NSW, as well as to depoliticise and take the heat out of decision-making. Fulsome public participation and the establishment of a specialist court – the Land and Environment Court – were key components in this enterprise. Merits review for developers and third parties in the Land and Environment Court were, in turn, crucial elements in restoring the integrity and legitimacy of planning and decision-making for environmental matters. Recent moves to limit third party merits review – particularly for resource projects - deprive the broader public of the benefits of good decision-making in environmental matters and serve to undermine the integrity of the planning system. The consistency, quality and accountability of decision-making by merits review undertaken by the Land and Environment Court contrasts with weaker decision-making, poorer outcomes and the inferior processes in public hearings held by the recently established Planning Assessment Commission. The flow on result is that communities are disempowered and alienated by both the extinguishment of their merits review rights and the weakening of decision-making in environmental matters which, in turn, undermines the integrity of the NSW planning system. 2016 - Download PDF Read more at our blog by EDO NSW CEO/Principal Solicitor Sue Higginson, The community’s right to participate: what happened to merits review?, 7 July 2016. Tweet
Protection of Human Rights and Environmental Rights in Australia 21 May 2009 - Download PDF Tweet