In another important court judgment today,climate editorNick O’Malley reports that eight school students in a case they brought against Environment Minister Sussan Ley,arguing she has a responsibility to protect them and the environment from the impacts of climate change.
The lawyer representing the students,David Barnden,described the finding as a world-first victory.
The children,who met through the School Strike for Climate movement,had argued that due to Ms Ley’s duty of care to them and other children the court should grant an injunction preventing her from approving an extension to the Vickery coal mine owned by Whitehaven Coal and located near Gunnedah in NSW.
The court found that Ms Ley had a duty of care to protect them and the environment from the impacts of climate change.
“Many thousands will suffer premature death from heat-stress or bushfire smoke. Substantial economic loss and property damage will be experienced,” Justice Mordecai Bromberg wrote in a summary of his judgement.
“Those potential harms may fairly be described as catastrophic,particularly should global average surface temperatures rise to and exceed 3 degrees beyond the pre-industrial level.”
However,he dismissed their application to have Ms Ley blocked from granting an extension to the coal mine as a result,saying he was not satisfied that “a reasonable apprehension of breach of the duty of care by the minister has been established”.
But he invited the children and the minister to provide further submissions on the extent of the duty of care he said had been established,and what that may mean to the minister’s decision over the mine.
One of the students,17-year-old Ava Princi,said she was relieved and thrilled by the judgement. “This is the first time a court of law,anywhere in the world,has recognised that a government minister has a duty of care to protect young people from the catastrophic harms of climate change,” she said.