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Environmental Justice Australia

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Environmental Justice Australia

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We're a public interest legal organisation for a radically better world. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the communities we serve.

Together we run game-changing court cases, high-stakes legal interventions and bold advocacy campaigns. Authorised by Nicola Rivers and Elizabeth McKinnon, EJA, Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton, Vic, 3053. Our environment is under threat from big business and hostile governments. Around the country, hard-won legal protections that safeguard our clean air and water are being wound back and torn up. Environmental Justice Australia are lawyers and we use our legal skills and expertise to protect our environment. We go to court to close toxic waste dumps, protect habitat, and defend your rights to clean air and clean water. We fight to change the law when it isn’t working to protect our communities and the environments where they live.

05/11/2026

Last week, we stood alongside our clients Generation Justice at Parliament House, following a landmark intervention by two UN human rights experts.

In response to a human rights complaint by Generation Justice, Special Rapporteurs Elisa Morgera and Astrid Puentes Riaño raised serious concerns about Australia's continued coal and gas approvals, fossil fuel subsidies and climate targets – and the impacts these decisions are having on young people's lives, rights and futures.

The Australian government has now responded, but Generation Justice says it has dodged the central question: why does Australia keep approving new coal and gas projects that make climate change worse?

Stand with Generation Justice: https://generationjustice.org.au/take-action/

04/11/2026

“The UN has heard us. Prime Minister Albanese, it’s your turn.”

Not one, but TWO UN human rights experts picked up Generation Justice’s complaint about Australia’s climate inaction.

Our clients Maya and Zhanāe wrote an article for The Point. It chronicles growing up through climate disasters, watching governments keep approving coal and gas, and what it feels like to have the UN asking the questions they’ve been asking all along.

Read their piece 👀 https://thepoint.com.au/opinions/261028-we-took-australias-failures-to-the-un-now-the-government-has-some-explaining-to-do

04/11/2026

It's been a big 12 months for people using the law to protect people and planet. 🌿

From courtrooms to communities, we've worked alongside courageous clients, partners. and supporters to protect nature, defend rights, and hold governments and corporations to account.

Over the 2025–26 financial year, we've supported communities defending water in the Beetaloo, Murray-Darling, and Namoi basins. Challenged destructive logging and land clearing, from Lutruwita to the Top End. Stood alongside First Nations communities protecting Country. Helped young Australians take their climate and human rights concerns to the United Nations, and so much more.

Each of these matters is a reminder of what can be won when people stand together for justice. Our new 2025–26 Impact Report tells the stories behind this work, and the courageous people using the law to make change.

As an independent, not-for-profit public interest legal organisation, none of this would be possible without the generosity of our donors and supporters, and the trust and collaboration of our clients and partners. We're proud to share this report, and deeply grateful to everyone involved.
Thank you! 💚

https://envirojustice.org.au/publication/2026-annual-impact-report/

03/11/2026

🚨 Not one, but TWO UN human rights investigators have issued serious allegations that Australia’s coal and gas approvals are putting young people’s lives, health and futures at risk.
This has never happened before.

The Australian government has responded to our clients Generation Justice – but skipped the most important question at the heart of the allegations: why does it keep approving new coal and gas projects that make climate change worse?

Find out more and sign on to Generation Justice's open letter: https://envirojustice.org.au/generation-justice-first-un-intervention-australias-coal-gas-expansion/

01/11/2026

The clock is ticking – you’ve got just 1 day left to have your say on the Hazelwood mine rehabilitation.

Here are three reasons to make a submission before 2 November:

💧 Protect the Latrobe River system. ENGIE wants to take 637 gigalitres of freshwater – more than the volume of Sydney Harbour – to fill the mine pit.

☣️ Push for proper scrutiny of the toxic coal ash. ENGIE plans to flood the mine without removing the coal ash, despite the serious risks this could pose to water, biodiversity and downstream places like the Gippsland Lakes.

🏭 Help set a stronger standard for what comes next. Hazelwood is the first of the Latrobe Valley’s three giant coal mines to be rehabilitated. Yallourn and Loy Yang still need to be cleaned up too.

Follow the link to read EJA’s legal explainers and make your submission before 2 November: https://envirojustice.org.au/take-action-hazelwood-coal-mine-rehabilitation/

01/11/2026

This week, Queensland's Land Court recommended approving the mining lease for Whitehaven Coal's proposed Wi******er South mine, with strengthened environmental conditions.

Mackay Conservation Group and the Australian Conservation Foundation, represented by Environmental Defenders Office - EDO, challenged the project over its impacts on climate, nature, water and human rights.

The proposed mine could generate at least 583 million tonnes of climate pollution over its lifetime and clear around 2,000 hectares of threatened koala and greater glider habitat.

"The strength of our legal system isn't measured solely by who wins or loses. It's also measured by whether communities can challenge powerful interests, put complex scientific evidence before independent courts and hold decision-makers to account’." – Alina Leikin, EJA Principal Lawyer.

While this week's outcome is disappointing for those who brought the challenge, the importance of this case goes beyond the decision itself. The case put the mine's climate and environmental impacts under intense legal scrutiny, brought independent scientific evidence before the court and required Whitehaven Coal to answer serious questions. The court also recommended stronger rehabilitation conditions and additional surveys to identify threatened species before work begins.

The recommendation is not a final approval. The Queensland Government must still decide whether to grant the mining lease, and the project also requires federal environmental approval. Communities must be able to challenge decisions that affect their lives, environment and futures, hold powerful interests to account and have evidence tested in court.

We stand with Australian Conservation Foundation, Mackay Conservation Group and the dedicated legal team at Environmental Defenders Office - EDO, and recognise their courage, determination and extraordinary work.

Independent public interest litigation matters. And so does defending the right to bring these challenges.

Read more: https://www.acf.org.au/news/koala-country-set-to-become-open-cut-coal-mine

30/10/2026

Zhanāe knows all too well the scars fossil fuel companies leave on Country. She’s watched her own sacred Country torn apart by coal mining.

That’s why she took Australia’s climate inaction to the United Nations.

Now, two Special Rapporteurs have issued serious allegations to the Australian government about its lack of climate policies and continued support for coal and gas.

The government has responded – but Zhanāe says it has dodged the question at the heart of the allegations: why does it keep approving new coal and gas projects that make climate change worse?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DfIkvcjzr8w/

28/10/2026

🚨 Not one, but TWO UN human rights investigators have issued serious allegations that Australia’s coal and gas approvals are putting young people’s lives, health and futures at risk.

This has never happened before.

The Australian government has responded to our clients Generation Justice – but skipped the most important question at the heart of the allegations: why does it keep approving new coal and gas projects that make climate change worse?

Find out more and sign on to Generation Justice's open letter: https://envirojustice.org.au/generation-justice-first-un-intervention-australias-coal-gas-expansion/

28/10/2026

This is BIG news.

Not one but TWO UN Special Rapporteurs have issued serious allegations about Australia’s continued coal and gas expansion and the impacts on young people’s lives, health and futures.

The allegations follow a human rights complaint we lodged last year on behalf of our clients – a group of young Australians who know all too well the life-altering impacts of climate change on their health, Country, Culture, education and dignity.

The Australian government has now responded – but Generation Justice says it has dodged the central question: why does Australia keep approving new coal and gas projects that make climate change worse?

Read more: https://envirojustice.org.au/generation-justice-first-un-intervention-australias-coal-gas-expansion/

Don’t let Albanese dodge the question.

--> Sign Generation Justice's open letter: https://generationjustice.org.au/take-action/
--> Tag Anthony Albanese and tell him it’s time to stop approving new coal and gas projects, rapidly phase out fossil fuels, and protect young people’s lives, health and futures.

26/10/2026

The clock is ticking – you’ve got just 1 week left to have your say on the Hazelwood mine rehabilitation.

Here are three reasons to make a submission before 2 November:

💧 Protect the Latrobe River system. ENGIE wants to take 637 gigalitres of freshwater – more than the volume of Sydney Harbour – to fill the mine pit.

☣️ Push for proper scrutiny of the toxic coal ash. ENGIE plans to flood the mine without removing the coal ash, despite the serious risks this could pose to water, biodiversity and downstream places like the Gippsland Lakes.

🏭 Help set a stronger standard for what comes next. Hazelwood is the first of the Latrobe Valley’s three giant coal mines to be rehabilitated. Yallourn and Loy Yang still need to be cleaned up too.

Follow the link to read EJA’s legal explainers and make your submission before 2 November: https://envirojustice.org.au/take-action-hazelwood-coal-mine-rehabilitation/

Address

Level 3, 60L Green Building, 60 Leicester Street
Carlton, VIC
3053

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5:30pm
Friday	9am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+61383413100

Website

https://www.envirojustice.org.au/

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