Last week, the Queensland Land Court recommended that one of Australia’s largest new coal mine goes ahead.
Since March 2024, represented by our legal team at the Environmental Defenders Office, ACF and Mackay Conservation Group (MCG) have been fighting Whitehaven Coal’s Winchester South coal mine in court. On Friday, the court made a decision that will please the climate wreckers but harm koalas, greater gliders, waterways, and our children’s futures.
While the world races towards clean energy, Whitehaven Coal is trying to drag Australia backwards.
This disastrous project will:
unleash over 557 million tonnes of climate pollution into our atmosphere
(almost 1.5 times what all of Australia generates domestically in a year)
destroy at least 2,000 hectares of habitat that is home to endangered and threatened species including koalas, the greater glider, the Australian painted snipe, the ornamental snake and the squatter pigeon
contribute significantly to the devastating mass bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef
destroy waterways and precious water resources and drain 280 million litres of precious groundwater every year.
All the coal from this mine will be exported. It won’t power a single Australian household, office or factory, and it won’t be used to make steel or anything else here at home. Yet our communities and businesses will bear the brunt of the climate impacts – no matter where on earth the coal is burnt. We will see worse health impacts, heatwaves, fires and floods.
While this decision is a huge blow, we have not given up hope.
There are some positives to come from this:
The Court has strengthened rehabilitation conditions to reduce the risk of acid mine drainage. The Court also imposed a further condition requiring ecological surveys of threatened species prior to work commencing.
The Court described ACF's case as "eloquently and efficiently put" and characterised the scrutiny ACF applied to the mine as "entirely appropriate". It is critical that the community retains the ability to have these proposals examined in court.
Taking Whitehaven to Court forced them to answer hard questions that they can usually avoid. In court, they had nowhere to hide. We exposed Whitehaven’s troubling view that burning coal plus carbon capture and storage (CCS) is ‘low emissions’. We now have crucial information on the record about the immense climate and nature impact of this mine.
Whitehaven Coal has its head in the sand on climate change but cases like this one force them to confront reality.
What’s next?
ACF and MCG are looking at all our options and will consider an appeal. In the meantime, we are calling on the Albanese Government to intervene and stop this destructive mine from proceeding.
The Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt, has the power to reject this mine and back in a fair transition to renewable industries for workers and communities instead.
This case wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support of our community. Thanks to you, we’re able to keep fighting.
If you want to help apply pressure on the Albanese Government, you can donate today.