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Articles on Environmental law

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The legal implications of changes to the carbon price mechanism are subtle, but important. Pawel Loj

The legal implications of changing the carbon pricing mechanism

Earlier this week the federal Government announced important changes to the carbon pricing mechanism (CPM). The political and economic consequences have been much discussed, but the less-talked-of legal…
The Federal Government has given the go-ahead to the Alpha coal development (this picture shows the existing trial mine), but will it ever be built? Greenpeace/Andrew Quilty

On Alpha coal approval, Burke clearly right in battle with Newman

Picking who is right in political disputes is often hard but this one is different. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman was clearly wrong in stating that the Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke is standing…
Beware the hyperbole: Campbell Newman has vowed to axe the Wild Rivers legislation, but what’s the reality beneath the rhetoric? AAP/Alan Porritt

Overturn, axe and bury: the LNP and Queensland’s Wild Rivers Act

Those who follow the Wild Rivers debates in Queensland probably know better than to trust the headlines. When, in January 2010, Tony Abbott announced a federal intervention into the state’s environmental…
Australia could have led the world in assessing projects for their economic, social and environmental impacts, but we lost our nerve. AAP

Beyond setting an example: what is Australian environmental policy for?

WHAT IS AUSTRALIA FOR? Australia is no longer small, remote or isolated. It’s time to ask What Is Australia For?, and to acknowledge the wealth of resources we have beyond mining. Over the next two weeks…
Does the Queensland Premier understand his own State’s mine approval process? AAP

Federal ‘green-tape’ myth for Alpha mine

The dispute between the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments over the approval of Gina Rinehart’s Alpha Coal Mine continues to escalate with the Prime Minister now backing her Environment Minister…
Minister Tony Burke is slowing down coal development in Queensland, but there’s more to it than saving turtles. Landfeldt/Flickr

Commonwealth and Queensland face off over coal and Great Barrier Reef

The halt in the Alpha Coal Project approval process shows the Commonwealth is taking very seriously UNESCO’s recent report threatening downgrading the status of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area…
Newman’s campaign promises were key to endorsements from some Indigenous organisations, but there has since been little action. AAP

Whatever happened to Queensland’s Wild Rivers controversy?

As I wrote in March, whether the Wild Rivers Act was repealed or prolonged in the wake of the Queensland election, underlying issues concerning the future and politics of Cape York Peninsula would persist…
Koalas face some serious threats, and listing them as “vulnerable” is an important step to saving them. AAP

The vulnerable koala: are we in time to save our national icon?

This week, the Australian Government listed several koala populations as “vulnerable”, giving them special protection. As a koala researcher and conservation planner, I am most impressed with Minister…
The current environmental impact regulations often produce nothing more than a big pile of paper. liz west

Green tape reform - dangers but also opportunities

The last few weeks have seen an extraordinary cross party agreement that environmental regulation of development needs reform. The Prime Minister wants coordination with the states streamlined; the Leader…
‘Green tape’ is an emotive term that tries to make condemning environmental protection look like common sense. Bill Rogers

Spinning ‘green tape’ as the climate changes

With only inverted commas signalling the spin, the news media have happily re-cycled the term “green tape”, the latest rhetorical gambit by those decrying environmental protections as unnecessarily delaying…
Who’s responsible for this? Better disaster law could answer that question. AAP

Climate change, catastrophic risk and disaster law

On 28 March the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its full report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX). The IPCC’s essential…
A new national partnership agreement could allay a lot of CSG worries, if the states sign up. kateausburn/Flickr

National coal seam gas agreement an important step in protecting water

A new national agreement designed to protect water resources from coal seam gas extraction and coal mining could offer a level of protection so far unseen in Australian environmental legislation. Any states…
There’s more to this Act than environmental protection. Cam Pervan/Flickr

The Wild Rivers Act controversy

The debates and controversy around the Wild Rivers legislation can be perplexing. As John Holmes has argued, the Act’s significance stems from “the durability and intractability” of pre-existing contests…
Could more plantations help reduce emissions? It depends if they’re done right. esagor

Forest carbon and the Durban climate conference

DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: One of the topics under discussion at Durban is the role carbon farming and other forestry measures could have in reducing emissions. With the possibility that negotiations…
Environmentalists are getting off the streets and into the courts in an effort to stop coal. Takver

Dragging coal through the courts: an alternative emissions-reduction strategy

The bill creating the carbon price has passed through Parliament. However, the campaigning efforts of the environmental lobby will not pause. More than ever, the coal industry is in its sights, with court…
There’s a lot of detail in the carbon price legislation, but it comes down to six key points. Australian Government

Explainer: Australia’s carbon price mechanism in six dot points

Australia’s carbon price mechanism has become law. But how does it work? There are six key points: 1. Australia’s emissions trajectory Australia has committed unconditionally to reduce its greenhouse gas…
Demanding climate data won’t provide a new window into global warming. nasa hq photo/flickr

Access to climate research data ordered

When it comes to obtaining research data, Canadian academic Steve Easterbrook said it best: “Any fool knows you don’t get data from a scientist by using FOI requests, you do it by stroking their ego a…

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