The High Court of Australia will today hear the nation’s first climate change case to reach the country’s highest court, a decision expected to set a binding legal precedent for future planning approvals.
The case, MACH Energy Australia Pty Ltd v Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group, relates to the proposed expansion of the Mount Pleasant open‑cut coal mine near Muswellbrook. It follows a unanimous NSW Court of Appeal ruling in July last year that found the mine’s approval unlawful.
The Court of Appeal determined that planning authorities are legally required to consider the specific local climate impacts of a project’s downstream emissions, a finding MACH Energy is now asking the High Court to overturn.
President of DAMSHEG, Wendy Wales, said the community had already experienced significant climate‑related impacts in the Upper Hunter.
“We’ve had floods, bushfires and severe erosion, and communities are struggling to recover,” she said.
“When you burn the coal, which is 98 per cent of the emissions of the project, that’s going to have a climate environmental impact. So that’s the point. And it should hold up very well in the High Court.
“There’s no predicting what happens in the High Court, but those principles are solid.”
The case has attracted international attention, with leading climate law and science institutions from the Universities of Cambridge, Columbia and Melbourne, and the Union of Concerned Scientists granted leave to intervene. The outcome is expected to influence other major fossil fuel developments and future climate litigation across Australia.
