Amy Tan

In July 2022, the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution to recognise the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by a vote of 161 in favour, 0 against and 8 abstentions. Whilst Australia voted in favour of the resolution, the Federal Government has thus far not indicated any desire to legislate this domestically.

In March 2023, the Australian Human Rights Commission ('the AHRC') launched a Position Paper outlining a proposed federal Human Rights Act. Notably, amid the 28 rights outlined was the right to a healthy environment. This Position Paper has since formed the basis of an inquiry into a Human Rights Framework for Australia by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (‘the PJCHR’), with the final report due in early 2024. This revived push is an exciting development which has come after a decades-long call from the legal and general community alike for more comprehensive statutory protection of human rights.

Georgie Clough

On 21 April 2021, the Commonwealth Minister for Foreign Affairs (the Minister) announced the cancellation of two memoranda of understanding between the Victorian state government and the Chinese government with respect to the latter’s Belt and Road Initiative (the Belt and Road agreements). The power to cancel the agreements …

Costa Avgoustinos

The Australian climate litigation movement has recently made significant inroads into the field of negligence. In Sharma v Minister for the Environment (2021) (Sharma), the Federal Court held that the Minister for the Environment owes a duty to Australian children to take reasonable care when considering approval of a coal …

Ellen Rock

In May of this year, Bromberg J in the Federal Court handed down a key decision in climate change litigation which has made waves both within Australia and internationally. Sharma v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560 was a negligence claim commenced in connection with an application to expand …