Media Releases

18 September: On behalf of our client, the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO NSW) warmly welcomes today’s decision by the Independent Planning Commission to reject the proposed greenfield Bylong coal mine, in part because of its projected greenhouse gas emissions.

18 September 2019: An application by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF) appealing the orders made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to end the lethal nature of the shark control program in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park has been dismissed by the Federal Court this afternoon.

The Environmental Defenders Office NSW is acting for Veronica “Dolly” Talbott, as a member of the Gomeroi Traditional Custodians, and has filed proceedings in the Federal Court challenging the lawfulness of a decision by the Environment Minister not to grant protection to several Significant Areas of Aboriginal cultural heritage within the footprint of the approved Shenhua Watermark open cut coal mine on the Liverpool Plains in NSW.

An important legal challenge run by EDO NSW, on behalf of the Humane Society International Australia (HSI), to the use of lethal shark drumlines within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park has been successful, with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal finding that the Shark Control Program within the Marine Park must avoid the lethal take of shark species.

25 March 2019: The Environmental Defenders Offices of Australia have welcomed the ALP’s pledge to restore funding to Australia’s network of environmental community legal centres if elected.

21 March 2019: Environmental Defenders Office NSW today publishes its comprehensive recommendations for climate-ready planning laws for NSW, including a new Climate Change Act, a Minister for Climate Change and a Climate Change Division within the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

EDO NSW on behalf of our client Groundswell Gloucester, has today received a Notice of Intention to Appeal the judgment in the Rocky Hill case, filed in the Court of Appeal by Gloucester Resources Limited.

Chief Justice of the Land and Environment Court Brian Preston SC handed down his judgment today in a landmark case, refusing approval of a new coal mine to be built just outside of the town of Gloucester in the NSW Upper Hunter Valley. This is the first time an Australian court has refused consent for a coal mine on the basis of its climate change impacts.