Media releases
If you have a media enquiry, please call or email Kathryn Lewis on (03) 8341 3110 or [email protected]
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Young Queenslanders urge UNESCO to list Great Barrier Reef as ‘in danger’ as federal government deadline looms
Three young Queenslanders have stepped up their fight to protect the Great Barrier Reef by writing to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, urging the icon be listed as ‘in danger’ due to the severe risk it faces from climate change, and the federal government’s...
NSW EPA puts Delta Electricity ahead of community health as Vales Point granted third pollution exemption
Environmental lawyers and doctors have slammed the NSW environment regulator’s decision to grant Delta Electricity a special exemption from legal air pollution limits for another five years. The decision on 15 December came despite a NSW parliamentary committee...
Victorian government’s waterways plan fails to provide for the green infrastructure of Melbourne’s west
A plan to protect the waterways of Melbourne’s west, which has been more than three years in the making, will not provide the broad law reform necessary to protect and restore critical rivers and creeks across this fast-changing region. The Victorian Department of...
Urgent reform needed as federal law allows VicForests logging to go ahead despite breaching state laws, driving extinction
Today the High Court has declined to grant leave to community group Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, to appeal their case to the High Court of Australia. This confirms Australia’s federal environment laws need urgent reform and are catastrophically failing wildlife...
‘Let rivers be rivers’: Community alliance says ecosystems must come first to tackle mounting crisis for Victoria’s waterways
An alliance of community and environment groups are calling for river ecosystems on the brink to be put first in a government strategy which will lock-in the next decade of water planning for southern Victoria. The Concerned Waterways Alliance has today released a...
A hidden problem: Latrobe Valley community’s plan for environment regulator, power station operators to clean up toxic coal ash waste
Environment and community advocates in the Latrobe Valley have compiled a detailed plan for Victoria’s regulator and power station operators to clean up dangerous and toxic coal ash dams. Time is running out for Energy Australia, operator of Yallourn Power Station,...
Today’s Parliamentary Inquiry report reveals tragic state of Victorian biodiversity
From Greater Gliders in native forests to Regent Honeyeaters in the suburbs – Victoria’s dramatic ecosystem decline revealed in parliamentary Inquiry requires “decisive action” from the Andrews Government. Victorian National Parks Association, Birdlife Australia,...
Environmental lawyers, international expert condemn Vales Point air pollution exemption ahead of EPA decision
Environmental lawyers, conservationists and an international air pollution expert have condemned Delta Electricity’s third attempt to evade air pollution limits, saying a special exemption would continue to put the community’s...
Gippsland community breathe a sigh of relief as Planning Minister makes welcome decision to reject Fingerboards mine
The Gippsland community can breathe a sigh of relief, as the Victorian Planning Minister has deemed a mineral sands mine, proposed to be built nearby significant waterways and a major food bowl, to be an unacceptable risk to the environment. The Fingerboards open...
Ahead of COP26, five young Australians lodge human rights complaint with UN over government inaction on climate crisis
Ahead of COP26, five brave young Australians from youth, First Nations and disability communities facing acute harm from climate change, have lodged a trio of human rights complaints with...
Victorian government must use powerful legal tools, strengthen laws to stop biodiversity emergency
The Victorian government must prioritise investment and make better use of powerful legal tools to stop the biodiversity emergency, environmental lawyers say, following the release of a scathing report into...
AGL’s Bayswater Power Station breached licence more than 50 times in two months
AGL’s Bayswater Power Station, in the NSW Hunter Valley, has exceeded air pollution limits more than 50 times in two months and is among three power stations in the state which failed to comply with air and water...
‘Once in a decade opportunity’ to halt southern Victoria’s water crisis
An alliance of community and environment groups have called for the Victorian government’s latest water strategy for the Central and Gippsland regions to lead to a major uplift in ambition and action to halt the crises facing our rivers and wetlands. ...
Federal government push to invest public funds in fossil fuel technology wide open to court challenge, leading Australian barrister says
A leading barrister and former head of the Law Council of Australia says the Federal Government’s push to invest public money into fossil fuels and non-renewable technologies could...
NSW coal-ash inquiry response another kick in the guts for community, environment
The NSW government’s lacklustre response to recommendations from an inquiry into coal-ash remediation has failed to reassure communities it will act to tackle the issues which pose a risk to the health of residents and the environment. Environmental Justice...
WHO clean air guidelines a call for action to protect health
Australia’s current air pollution standards are significantly weaker than the WHO guidelines, resulting in poor air quality contributing to the avoidable loss of thousands of lives each year, increased deaths from coronary heart disease and a range of respiratory...
Traditional Owners could achieve water justice in the Murray-Darling Basin for the first time, if government delivers on cultural flows
‘Cultural flows’ – water entitlements and rights for First Nations communities – could be achieved for the first time in the Murray-Darling Basin if government delivers on a First Nations led proposal. Following the completion of the federally-funded National...
Waste not, want not – communities call for NSW Government to deliver on coal-ash pollution, ahead of govt response to coal-ash Inquiry
Community groups who fear the New South Wales coal ash Inquiry will be a wasted opportunity if the government doesn’t act to implement its advice, want four key recommendations adopted they say will protect health and environment and create job opportunities for coal...