This article was written for the VNPA’s September 2015 Parkwatch magazine and summarises the legal case we launched on behalf of the three threatened forest owl species after the 2014 bushfires. The agreed settlement terms, as of late September 2015, were still being worked through by DELWP.Thanks to the VNPA for permission to reproduce it …
Farm organisations horrified they will be swept up in changes to environmental laws that aim to stop green groups taking legal action against resource projects Angry farm organisations have learned they will be caught by changes to federal environmental laws aimed at stopping “environmental saboteurs” using the courts to delay big projects, but agriculture minister
An analysis of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act by progressive think tank the Australia Institute has found only a fraction of the roughly 5500 projects referred since the act’s inception in 2000 have been challenged using “third-party appeal rights”. And of those 5500, only 27 have been the subject of third-party legal appeals. …
Legal experts say the Federal Government’s plan to stop environmentalists “sabotaging” major projects could actually result in more time being spent in the courts. Earlier this month, legal proceedings by a Queensland environment group forced the Government to reconsider its approval of Adani’s $16 billion Carmichael coal mine because Environment Minister Greg Hunt had not …
The Abbott government has revealed plans to repeal a section of Australia’s environment laws that allows green groups to challenge approvals for mining projects and other large developments in the courts. Federal Attorney-General George Brandis said the government would seek to repeal section 487 (2) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and “return …
UPDATE: 19th September 2015 Malcolm Turnbull has postponed the planned changes to the law that would exclude most enviro groups from challenging bad government development decisions. The Abbott Government’s attack on the environment knows no bounds and is reaching a peak that has even the most conservative minds staggering with disbelief! His coal-obsession has become …
“We’re the single biggest port for hardwood chips being exported, in the world,” says Port of Portland chief executive Jim Cooper. It is a claim that can only be fully appreciated when standing atop one of the 40-metre mountains of blue gum woodchips that are waiting to be shipped from the port on Victoria’s south …
Conservationists says the government is trying to hush them after exposing dodgy practices. Thom Mitchell reports. The Victorian government has fined a conservationist who exposed what the Environment Minister described as “very disturbing” and “extremely poor practice” logging, despite reports he helped prepare becoming a catalyst for substantial reform of industry guidelines. In April this …
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) is examining ways to adjust Victoria’s forest management framework to increase safeguards for large old trees, while providing greater certainty for the timber industry around harvesting operations. DELWP Land Management Policy Executive Director Peter Beaumont said a recent review of the state’s regulatory framework for native …
