ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS
OFFICE (QLD) INC.
To read the EDO submission to the Attorney General - click here.
To read Stephen Keim's letter of support - click here.
On 11 June 2010, the EDO-NQ and EDO (Qld) made a joint submission to the Queensland’s Attorney General, Cameron Dick, requesting that the State to make up to $180,000 legal aid funding available annually for public interest environmental cases run in State courts. In support of their submission, the Queensland EDOs noted the financial obstacles individuals and community groups face in bringing lawsuits on behalf of the public that seek to enforce State, Commonwealth and local laws intended to protect the environment. The Queensland EDOs further noted the benefits that the public has reaped in New South Wales, which has long had in place financial assistance for such litigation. “Legal aid has been available for years in New South Wales and has allowed numerous worthy public interest environmental law cases to be run in that state’s courts,” noted Patrick Pearlman, principal solicitor of the EDO-NQ, based in Cairns. “We’re simply seeking similar funding for groups and individuals that want to protect Queensland’s ecosystems on behalf of all of us,” he added.
In contrast to the complete absence of Queensland State legal aid for public interest environmental cases since 1992, there is some limited legal aid for matters concerning Commonwealth environmental laws. The Commonwealth’s “public interest and test case” scheme, enabled the EDO (Qld) to run litigation on behalf of the Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council asserting Burnett Water Pty Ltd's failure to comply with environmental conditions related to operation of the Paradise Dam, which in turned related to the rare Queensland lungfish. According to Jo-Anne Bragg, principal solicitor for the EDO (Qld) office in Brisbane, “even with community donations that the Council was able to raise, and generous assistance from law students and barristers, we could not effectively have run such a major case in the Federal Court against a dam operator without assistance from the Commonwealth. But most cases we see are about State law, so establishing some State funding for public interest environmental litigation is imperative to restore some power to the community against major development interests when government decides not to prosecute.”
Under the Queensland EDOs’ proposal, an independent assessment committee would review applications for legal aid for public interest environmental litigation and determine whether the lawsuit raises sufficiently broad public interest concerns and, if so, recommend funding to assist in running that case. It is worth emphasizing that the legal aid sought by the Queensland EDOs would be available to any party running a public interest environmental law matter in court – not just the EDOs.
While Attorney General Dick expressed interest in the Queensland EDOs’ submission, support from the public – including from members of academia and the bar – will be particularly helpful. On that note, Brisbane barrister, Stephen Keim, authored a letter on 16 June 2010 strongly supporting the EDOs’ legal aid funding request, which the EDOs have forwarded to Attorney General Dick.