The Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ) is running a landmark climate legal intervention.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek must now reconsider the climate risks from nearly all coal and gas proposals currently on her desk.
Defending our living wonders from climate harm
Represented by Environmental Justice Australia, ECoCeQ submitted 19 legal requests and an an enormous vault of evidence to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek
This intervention required the Minister to reconsider nearly all of the new coal and gas proposals currently awaiting federal approval.
These coal and gas proposals – like Woodside’s North West Shelf and Whitehaven’s Narrabri coal mine – would each have a vast and irreversible impact on our climate and devastate thousands of nationally significant animals, plants and places.
The Minister has accepted ECoCeQ’s requests as valid. She is currently accpting public comment on the 18 fossil fuel projects.
A kaleidoscope of living wonders
This continent is rich with animals, plants, places and ecosystems that are so extraordinary, Australia’s environment minister must protect them from harm.Dozens of new coal and gas proposals
Burning fossil fuels is the biggest cause of climate breakdown. New coal mines and gas plants would have vast and irreversible consequences, especially for our living wonders.The future is up to us
The evidence is overwhelming, but the future is not yet written. Find out more about this legal intervention and how it seeks to reshape environmental decision making in this countryWith the stroke of a pen, our environment minister can make the stakes for Australia’s living wonders much better – or catastrophically worse.
EXPLORE THE EVIDENCEThis is about all of us
This is about all of us. Koalas and platypuses. Green turtles, dugongs and Tassie devils. Bilbies and bats and big old trees. It’s about birds that traverse the planet to nest in our internationally recognised wetlands, and whales that nurse their calves in our seas.
It’s about delicate alpine ecosystems, thunderous waterfalls, miraculous deserts and ochre-toned escarpments. It’s about the living cultural heritage of First Nations people. It’s about Kakadu. The Tarkine. The Reef.
And it’s about all the extraordinary animals, reptiles, birds, plants, heritage and places we want our children and their children to know and love.
These animals, plants and places are so iconic and unique, they are protected under Australia’s national environment law. Our environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is legally obliged to keep them safe from harm.
It’s time to face this
Our climate is breaking down. These new coal and gas proposals would make this already devastating situation much, much worse.
Australia already has one of the worst extinction records on Earth. Our reefs and river systems are collapsing. In many parts of Australia, even koalas are at risk of extinction.
But the future is not yet written. We are writing it now.
The members of a small environmental council in central Queensland who are bringing this legal intervention are passionate about Australia’s our living wonders. They are calling on Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to face the science – and act.
They are supported by a group of “Friends of Living Wonders”, including First Nations leaders, scientists, wildlife carers and young people.