You've been the driving force behind landmark court cases, bold investigations and powerful advocacy for a radically better world.
From challenging destructive projects to holding governments and corporations accountable, our work this year has been relentless and effective.
With your help, we've used the law to:
- Protect precious ecosystems – defending irreplaceable habitats and wildlife
- Hold polluters to account – setting powerful precedents for our climate and frontline communities
- Support First Nations justice – backing communities fighting to care for Country and Culture
And there's so much more.
Scroll down to explore some of the landmark cases, investigations and advocacy campaigns you've made possible.
Thank you for
standing with us.
We are protecting water from fracking in the Northern Territory
EJA lawyers are representing Lock the Gate in the Federal Court, challenging a major fracking project in the Beetaloo Basin.
This is the first legal challenge to fracking under Australia's newly expanded water trigger laws.
This Federal Court challenge is against Tamboran B2 Pty Ltd’s proposed Shenandoah South Exploration and Appraisal project, which plans to frack fifteen gas wells in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.
As Lock the Gate’s head of research and investigations Georgina Woods, says:
“We believe the expanded water trigger should be used to assess this fracking project for its impacts on water resources. Since neither Tamboran nor the Federal Environment Minister have chosen to do this, we’ve stepped in to take action ourselves.”
Meanwhile, Tamboran has already begun early work on the project.
You helped nine young people lodge a UN complaint
On behalf of nine young people from across Australia, EJA lawyers lodged a formal human rights complaint with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Climate Change.
Our clients say the Australian government's lack of ambitious action on climate change is violating their human rights.
They hope the UN will amplify their stories and push the Australian government to take responsibility for failing to protect young people's human rights in the face of catastrophic climate change.
This is about justice. For us, for our communities, and for young people everywhere.
You backed traditional owners to protect Binybara/Lee Point
Binybara is more than beautiful, it is sacred. For Larrakia people, it’s a place of deep cultural meaning
That's why Larrakia Elder Tibby Quall, represented by Environmental Justice Australia lawyers, is running an important case to protect what remains against a housing development that threatens to irreversibly damage both culture and Country.
Since 2017, Mr Quall has raised the alarm about cultural heritage and sacred sites at Binybara/Lee Point. Yet the NT Heritage Council approved the removal of 10 Aboriginal artefacts without consulting him or other senior Larrakia Traditional Owners.
In a landmark decision, the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered that no further land clearing can take place while the legal challenge is heard – and recognised Mr Quall, as an owner of cultural artefacts under the NT’s Heritage Act.
You're helping defend threatened wildlife on the brink of extinction
EJA lawyers took the Australian government to court on behalf of our client, the Wilderness Society, because they say successive Environment Ministers have failed to make Recovery Plans for threatened species – a responsibility required under our national environment law.
Recovery Plans are rescue roadmaps which identify critical habitat, outline key threats and guide government decisions – including project approvals.
From black cockatoos to ghost bats to greater gliders – many of Australia's threatened species are missing these vital plans.
We couldn't do any of this without you.
Despite the challenges facing our environment and communities, your commitment has ensured we can keep fighting – and winning.
Thank you for standing with us.
We expected 2025 to be a turbulent year, with aggressive political and media tactics targeting public interest litigation, community groups, expert witnesses, environmental lawyers and protesters.
These combative tactics are designed not only to intimidate environmental advocates and activists, but to limit democratic rights to access justice more broadly by those who do not believe citizens deserve the right to access the courts to ask for scrutiny of environmentally damaging projects.
But we are steadfast in our belief that access to justice is a critically important function of a healthy democracy, and we will not be intimidated.
We are protecting fragile Murray floodplain forests and wetlands
In April, EJA lawyers went to Federal Court on behalf of our clients, Friends of Nyah Vinifera Park, to challenge a controversial floodplain engineering project approved under Australia’s environment laws.
The project, proposed by Lower Murray Water and approved by the Federal Government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, would see large levee banks, regulators and pump stands built across the Nyah floodplain in northern Victoria.
The group says the project poses serious risks to the region’s ecosystems, waterways, and cultural heritage – and is being used to justify giving less water back to the environment under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
This case is the first of its kind: a legal challenge to Basin Plan projects designed to avoid recovering water for rivers, wetlands and floodplains.
We stood with a senior Yorta Yorta woman against racial vilification
For the first time in September 2024, a First Nations person in Victoria used the state’s laws to successfully argue they had been racially vilified.
Monica Morgan, a widely known and respected senior member of the Yorta Yorta Nation, said she had been subjected to years of bullying and intimidation from the Barmah Brumby Preservation Group over Yorta Yorta Nation support of government policy to remove feral horses from Barmah National Park.
In evidence presented to the tribunal, Morgan described the impact of seeing the posters, witnessing regular demonstrations held by the feral horse group outside the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, including during NAIDOC week, and being followed and targeted in public.
In response to the outcome, Morgan said:
“This decision is a small victory that shows the white legal system can sometimes acknowledge the detrimental harm of the society it represents. The system is stacked against us but this time it has worked. It’s important our mob know they can utilise this.”
You kept fighting to keep our forests standing
In June 2025 we filed a case on behalf of Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) to challenge the Yarra Ranges Council’s decision to approve logging plans on private land near Warburton.
The logging would impact high conservation value forest and is being allowed under a one-sentence permit from 1977 – with no expiry date, no public notice, and no opportunity for community input.
Every patch of habitat matters to the survival of endangered wildlife. But this case is about more than one site. It’s about the integrity of Victoria’s forest protections – and whether outdated, decades-old zombie permits can quietly bypass critical environmental laws.
You stood with a community group as it protects water from coal seam gas infrastructure
Representing, the Mullaley Gas & Pipeline Accord, EJA lawyers have filed a case in the Federal Court challenging a decision by the Environment Minister to assess Santos’ gas pipeline through Gomeroi Country and prime farmland – without applying the national water trigger.
The proposed Narrabri Lateral Pipeline would cut through the rich agricultural lands and Gomeroi Country, transporting gas from Santos’ controversial 850-well coal seam gas project in the Pilliga Forest.
The federal minister decided not to apply key legal water protections to this pipeline.
The group says the pipeline is integral to the Narrabri gas project and should have been assessed by the federal Government for its likely risks to local water resources.
You did this, and so much more
We've got big plans for the rest of the year
More landmark court cases
We have big plans to win game-changing precedents and disrupt the systems that are fuelling destruction and injustice.
More strategic legal interventions
Together we can run powerful legal campaigns to investigate, expose and demand action and accountability.
More advocacy for better laws
We're focused on fixing flaws in our legal system, pushing for better policies and improving how our laws are made and enforced.
More people having a real say
With your support, we can keep empowering communities to access information, challenge decisions and participate in the legal system.
Thanks again – from all of us at EJA
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we live and work. We pay respect to their Elders past and present, and pay tribute to the vital role First Nations peoples play in caring for Country across Australia.
© 2023 Environmental Justice Australia. ABN: 74 052 124 375 | Endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient. Donations of $2 or more to EJA are tax deductible in Australia. Authorised by Nicola Rivers and Elizabeth McKinnon, EJA, Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton, Vic, 3053.
