28 August 2020

Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal has failed in a legal bid to strike out landmark human rights objections to its Galilee Coal Project, clearing the way for young Queenslanders and landholders to argue in the Queensland Land Court that climate change caused by the mine will impact their rights to life and culture.

Waratah Coal made the strike out application [...] in relation to objections to its proposed thermal coal mine from landholders and conservationists The Bimblebox Alliance and Youth Verdict – a group of young Queenslanders fighting the mine over climate impacts.

These groups, represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, are arguing under Queensland’s new Human Rights Act that the mine would impact their human rights by fuelling climate change that puts the futures, lives and cultures of Queenslanders at risk.

[...] [H]er Honour President Kingham rejected Waratah Coal’s application to strike out these objections, clearing the way for the Queensland Land Court to consider objections to the human rights impacts of the proposed Galilee Coal Project.

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EDO principal solicitor Sean Ryan said:

“With this win our clients have cleared a significant legal hurdle, ensuring they can argue before the Queensland Land Court that this mine will limit their human rights by fuelling climate change.

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