Thank you
See what you've made possible
Whether you followed our cases, wrote submissions, attended webinars, or generously donated – thank you.
Our small but mighty public interest environmental legal centre is powered by people like you who choose to stand with us.
We hope you feel proud of everything we’ve achieved together so far in 2026. Together we’re shaping Australia’s future. See what your support made possible last year.
You stood with communities around Australia on climate harm
Thanks to your support, on behalf of ten remarkable Australians from communities across the country, we filed a globally significant human rights case against the Albanese government over climate harm linked to coal and gas exports.
Our clients include Traditional Owners, firefighters, teachers, students, and disability advocates. They’ve lost loved ones to bushfires, been trapped in floods, hospitalised during extreme heat, and seen Country and culture disrupted.
Now, they’re asking the United Nations to hold the Australian government accountable.
You put a national spotlight on native forest logging
In June, living rooms across Australia were talking about the future of native forest logging as ABC’s Four Corners aired Timber Turmoil.
At the same time, we released our report, Following the money: The unfinished transition away from native forest logging, examining where the Victorian government’s $1.5 billion of forestry transition funding actually went – and why native forests still lack permanent legal protection.
Together, Four Corners and our investigation put a national spotlight on a question many Australians are now asking: why is logging in native forests still happening?
You helped Vince defend the Murray River from artificial engineering
On behalf of Wadi Wadi man, Vince Kirby, EJA lawyers filed a legal challenge against the Victorian government’s approval of a Cultural Heritage Management Plan for part of the Nyah floodplain engineering project. The project risks permanent harm to culturally significant places on Country.
Vince argues the approval process failed to properly identify, assess or protect Aboriginal cultural heritage, and did not adequately consult Traditional Owners before works were approved.
In the meantime, now works can begin to clear the site or commence the project while the Court considers Vince's case. Your support means EJA lawyers can continue representing community groups and Traditional Owners defending the mighty Murray.
You supported communities to challenge major fossil fuel projects
With your support, we represented community groups and organisations challenging fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, and Woodside’s North West Shelf Extension and Browse offshore gas project.
While the Federal court ruled that the water trigger does not apply to a major fracking project in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin, we secured an important win, on behalf of our client, Australian Conservation Foundation, requiring the Environment Minister to reconsider Woodside’s Browse gas project. And the North West Shelf Extension made history, with the Federal Court granting a UN expert permission to weigh in as amicus curiae.
If these cases are successful, each could set precedents that ensure climate impacts from coal and gas projects can no longer be ignored.
Public interest legal action matters now more than ever before
From urgent court cases to game-changing legal investigations and bold advocacy, your generosity means EJA can back communities with the legal firepower when it matters most.
We’re proudly not-for-profit, fiercely independent and powered by the generous EJA community.
From the frontlines and fencelines, your support makes it possible to use the law to stop destruction, unlock access to justice, and win system change.
You backed Traditional Owners to protect Binybara/Lee Point
Binybara, also known as Lee Point, is a place of deep cultural significance for Larrakia people.
The area contains important cultural artefacts and heritage values that connect Larrakia Traditional Owners to Country, law and identity. The cultural artefacts at the heart of this case are not merely relics of history, they are part of a living culture.
A major development proposed by Defence Housing Australia (DHA) has put this heritage at risk, raising serious concerns about whether existing laws are strong enough to protect it.
Thanks to the support of people like you, EJA lawyers have been supporting our client Tibby Quall, a senior Larrakia elder of the Danggalaba Kulumbirigin clan since 2017 – to raise the alarm about cultural heritage and sacred sites at Binybara/Lee Point.
You helped close loopholes in our environmental laws
After decades of hard work by communities, Traditional Owners, environment groups and advocates, one of Australia’s biggest environmental law loopholes – Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) - are finally coming to an end.
For decades, the RFA exemption has allowed native forest logging to avoid assessment under our national environment laws.
This meant critical habitat for threatened species could be logged without the federal oversight those laws are meant to provide.
Thanks to people like you, from July 1 2027, that exemption is ending. But what replacing it matters.
You helped communities make polluters pay
Back in December 2024, hundreds of Victorians spoke up about AGL’s plan to take water from the Latrobe River to rehabilitate the Loy Yang coal mine.
Together we called for transparency, accountability, and for coal companies to finally pay the price for decades of environmental damage. And it worked.
Thanks to community pressure, AGL will now have to pay for water it takes from the Latrobe River – with that money flowing back to the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland.
This is a major step forward for people-powered environmental justice. And it’s your win. The decision sends a clear signal that polluters are expected to pay their way – not be handed free access to public resources.
Impact highlights
Three decades of legal work for environmental justice – and bold plans for the year ahead.
If you’d like to keep this work going
Fund bold legal action. Create transformative change.
Your support means we can run urgent court cases and represent communities on the frontlines – for a safe climate, thriving nature and a fairer future.
Donate to power the next win:
- $100 funds court filing fees and expert advice
- $50 helps community groups access legal support
- $250 helps challenge government inaction in court
