Environment Victoria and lawyers from Environmental Justice Australia say EPA Victoria needs to outright reject AGL Energy's plans for a massive expansion of toxic coal ash dumps and enforce laws to protect the local community. AGL Energy has sought approval to...
EJA senior specialist lawyer and ecosystem team lead, Ellen Maybery, has spent the past few weeks appearing at a hearing about the Victorian government’s plans to artificially engineer the Murray River at two key wetlands. Representing Environment Victoria , EJA...
ELLEN MAYBERYEJA SENIOR SPECIALIST LAWYER AND ECOSYSTEMS LEADWe don’t often have the opportunity to completely overhaul our national environment laws. As environmental lawyers, we know just how urgently it’s needed. Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has...
The iconic Murray Darling Basin is in strife. Climate breakdown, politics, industry and agriculture have left this incredible river system one of the most vulnerable water basins on the planet. Now, the federal and Victorian state governments plan to “reengineer” nine...
The Supreme Court of Victoria has handed down two landmark judgments, both finding state-owned logging agency VicForests has logged illegally. In a win for forests and community, both judgments will require VicForests to survey for and protect threatened species. In...
The Northern Territory is unique for many reasons, not least because of its spectacular natural environment – from free-flowing rivers, waterfalls and desert landscapes to plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world. Amongst these spectacular natural...
Appearances can be deceptive. It’s hard to believe that we’re in a water crisis when we are surrounded by lush green, and the rain just keeps on falling. But the climate crisis that is becoming increasingly apparent the world over is also a water crisis, writes...
The Murray-Darling is Australia’s largest and most complex river system, flowing through five states and territories and supporting diverse and iconic ecosystems. It is also now one of the most vulnerable water basins on Earth, writes lawyer Natalie Hogan. Earlier...
The following is a lecture given at Duke University in the United States by Senior Specialist Lawyer Dr Bruce Lindsay. The intersecting space of environmental law and First Nations’ justice in our country is part of a wider canvas which relates to structural and...
By Ellen Maybery, Senior Specialist LawyerImagine you are the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. The unprecedented 2022 federal election result has just unfurled before your eyes. A slam dunk for community voices demanding real action on climate change and integrity....
Our mammoth three weeks in court representing Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) has wrapped! We are so grateful for everyone’s support. To everyone who chipped in a donation, shared our posts on social media or followed the case live: thank you for backing...
The Concerned Waterways Alliance (CWA) welcomes the release of the Discussion Draft of the Central and Gippsland SWS. The SWS will be an opportunity to relieve mounting pressures on our stressed rivers and wetlands from consumptive uses, over-extraction and the...
For tens of thousands of years, First Nations people have cared for Country and depended on healthy and flowing rivers – rivers that lived and breathed according to natural cycles. Colonisation and decades of mismanagement and overextraction have left Australia’s...
In May 2021, the full bench of the Federal Court overturned the landmark win in the case to protect the critically endangered Leadbeater's Possum and vulnerable Greater Glider from logging. The appeal was won on a single ground - that logging has a wide exemption...
More than four years after the Minister for Planning first required an Environment Effects Statement (EES) be prepared for the Fingerboards mineral sands mine proposed in East Gippsland, Victoria, the public hearings to consider the proposal are about to commence. An...
VicForests’ appeal hearing has wrapped up! After three days in the Federal Court in Sydney, our legal team are heading home to await the outcome of the appeal. The team arrived at the steps of the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday and were greeted by supporters like...
The case to protect possums from logging has been running for over three years. And after an incredible win for threatened possums, we’re heading back to court on April 12 to defend vital possum habitat once more. In May 2020, Justice Mortimer found that 66 of...
This week, the Minister for Planning rejected AGL’s proposed Crib Point gas import terminal, saying it would result in “unacceptable environmental effects” to the internationally significant Westernport Bay. This is a huge win for the community who have been...