Australia’s Environment Minister doesn’t have to take action to stop the damage fossil fuel projects will inflict on natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef, a court has found.

The Federal Court has dismissed an environment group’s case against Tanya Plibersek in relation to two new coal mines planned in NSW.

The Environment Council of Central Queensland took the minister to court after she refused to change initial risk assessments for the proposed mines.

On Wednesday, Justice Shaun McElwaine said the minister had accepted and considered thousands of pages of new evidence the council had provided, detailing what ongoing fossil fuel exploitation could do to Australia’s natural wonders.

He said the minister did not dispute that many matters of national environmental significance had been, or would be, affected by climate change.

Nor did she dispute that emissions from the burning of coal have contributed to climate change with severe consequences for the climate.

But despite her acceptance of those things, Justice McElwaine said existing laws did not oblige her to do anything differently.

“Ultimately, the applicant’s arguments, anchored by the extensive scientific material relied on, raise matters for Parliament to consider whether the minister’s powers must be exercised to explicitly consider the anthropogenic effects of climate change … ” he said.

Environmental Justice Australia, who ran the case for the council,  said the loss was difficult to swallow, and may be appealed.

“What his judgment says is that it’s somehow not the job of our Environment Minister, under our national laws, to protect the environment from catastrophic climate harms caused by coal and gas,” lawyer and co-CEO Elizabeth McKinnon said outside the court in Melbourne.

“And nobody – not the Australian government and not the mining companies in this case – challenged the facts in the thousands of pages of climate evidence our client put before the court.”

The council’s president Christine Carlisle said the outcome was bitterly disappointing, and warned it could have ramifications for other new coal and gas projects currently before the minister.

“I’m alarmed that under our law, as it currently stands, it is somehow not the job of the Environment Minister to protect the environment from the biggest threat of all which is climate change from coal and gas,” she said.

“The United Nations says there can be no new fossil fuels. Not one. But minister Plibersek has already approved four. And right now, at various stages of planning on her desk, there’s another 25 new coal and gas proposals.”

The case centred on plans to expand two NSW coal mines at Narrabri and Mount Pleasant.

Companies joined proceedings

The companies behind the projects – Whitehaven Coal subsidiary Narrabri Coal Operations, and MACH Energy – joined the proceedings in support of the minister.

“Those companies might be celebrating tonight but a responsible government cannot possibly see this as a win,” Carlisle said.

“If our laws are failing in a crisis, it’s her (the minister’s) job to fix those. Until she does that she must pause approvals for any new coal and gas.”

The minister’s office said the government was still working through the judgment and its implications.

“Our strong new climate safeguard laws, developed with the Greens Party and independents, mean that coal and gas projects must comply with Australia’s commitment to net zero,” a spokeswoman said. 

“We are approving more renewable energy than ever before … This enormous transformation can’t happen overnight. But we’re working overtime to get there.”

–AAP