The federal Minister for the Environment owes a duty of care to children who could suffer “catastrophic” harms from increased greenhouse gas emissions that would result from approving the expansion of Whitehaven’s Vickery coal mine, a judge has ruled.
The Federal Government has argued a class action against the expansion of a northern NSW mine has “conspicuously failed” to show that the emissions would contribute to “catastrophic harm”, but a judge has questioned the Commonwealth’s contention that other countries would be responsible for the emissions.
Trial kicked off Tuesday in a landmark class action brought by teenagers seeking to halt the expansion of a Whitehaven coal mine in NSW, with the barrister for the teens arguing catastrophe was likely if the expansion was blessed by the Federal Minister for the Environment.
The Victoria Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit by restaurant owner and Liberal member Michelle Loielo challenging the validity of the Victoria government’s now dropped COVID-19 curfew, with a judge finding that the measure was legal and “proportionate to the purpose of protecting public health”.
The judge overseeing a challenge to Victoria’s recently lifted COVID-19 curfew has dismissed the state’s government bid to have the court split the hearing and first determine whether restaurant owner Michelle Loielo had standing to bring the case.
The health official behind Victoria’s now repealed curfew is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought against her challenging the directive on human rights grounds, claiming that the declarations sought would have “no foreseeable consequences” on the Liberal Party member who filed the case.
A case by restaurant owner and Liberal Party member Michelle Loielo challenging Victoria’s COVID-19 curfew is continuing despite an announcement by the Andrews government scrapping the curfew on Sunday night.
The public health official responsible for Victoria’s controversial curfew has had her credibility attacked in court, with a judge hearing suggestions that she may have been “coached and assisted” by the state government.
A judge has ordered the Victorian government to hand over legal documents it weighed before implementing its COVID-19 curfew, in a suit brought by a Liberal Party member that says the curfew was unlawful.
A decision earlier this month to extend Victoria’s controversial COVID-19 curfew was “bizarre, capricious, arbitrary” and was made under pressure from the state’s Premier, a Victoria Supreme Court judge has heard.