Improving access to justice for the environment

Environmental and Planning Law Journal

Volumn 13, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 225-234

  Comino, Maria P ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84871600330     PISSN: 0813300X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Thanks to Stephen Comino, Stephen Keim, Jo Bragg, Mandy Bathgate, Paul Leadbeter, and John Scanlon for comments in the preparation of this article.
2. See T Bonyhady, Places Worth Keeping: Conservationists, politics and law (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1993)
3. [1983] 2 Qd R 72.
4. (1975) 132 CLR 473.
5. See also Sinclair v Murphyores Inc Pty Ltd [1978] Qd R 239.
6. In 1976, John Sinclair also took the unusual course of defamation proceedings against the then Queensland Premier
7. Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland v Pine Rivers Shire Council (1986) QPLR 217
8. Central Queensland Speleological Society Inc v Central Queensland Cement Pty Ltd (No I) [1989] 2 Qd R 512
9. see E de Wit, "Enforcement Rights of Individual Citizens in Australian Environmental & Planning Legislation" in Defending the Environment, conference papers (1995), p 145.
10. See Corkill v Forestry Commission (NSW) (1991) 73 LGRA 126 at 247.
11. See ACFv South Australia (1990) 53 SASR 349 conducted by South Australian lawyers substantially on a pro bono basis.
12. For example, since 1992 the Environmental Law Community Advisory Service in South Australia has had a roster of volunteer solicitors who have provided legal advice on a regular basis. See Application for Funding by ELCAS to the federal Attorney-General's Department, September 1995. There have also been firms that have taken on litigation on a pro bono basis.
13. For example, Bruce Woolf and Associates has conducted significant public interest environmental litigation in New South Wales.
14. Section 5, Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
15. See "Environmental Protection". Legal Aid News (Legal Aid Commission of NSW, Sydney, 1991).
16. See Wilderness Act 1987
17. Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act 1985.
18. Oral communication, Stephen Keim, former President Legal Aid Commission, Brisbane, October 1994.
19. See EDO Victoria. The Establishment of an Environment Defenders Office in Victoria. Stage 7wo (Melbourne, 1990), p 20, which notes that the legal aid guidelines at that time made no reference to environmental issues and positively discouraged applications for aid.
20. See M Comino, Submission by EDOs, ELCAS and steering committees for the establishment of EDOs in other States and Territories on the Access to Justice Plan (Sydney, August 1994), p 27.
21. See, eg, Leisuremark (Aust) Pty Ltd v Noosa Shire Council [1988] QPLR 137.
22. See M Comino, "EDO (Qld)-Child of a New Era", July (1990) Impact. Particular issues of concern to the meeting included the persistent refusal of the State's Legal Aid Commission to fund environmental cases.
23. See EDO Queensland, Solicitor's Reports to AGM, Brisbane 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995.
24. See Funding Application by the Cairns Community Legal Centre to the Attorney-General's Department, Cairns, September 1995.
25. See EDO Victoria. The First Nine Months (Melbourne 1990).
26. See EDO Victoria, Annual Report 1994/95 (Melbourne, 1995).
27. See EDO Victoria, The Establishment of an Environment Defenders Office in Victoria, Stage 2, October 1990, and The First Nine Months (Melbourne, 1990).
28. Shire of Omeo v Threatened Species Network (1995) 14 AATR 250.
29. See Chairman's Report, EDO Victoria, Annual Report 19941995 (Melbourne, 1995).
30. See P Leadbeter and J Scanlon, "Crawl Before You Walk; The Story of the Development and Operation of the Environmental Law Community Advisory Service in South Australia" (1995) Impact December.
31. Kangaroo Island Eco-Action Inc v District Council of Kingscote (unreported, Magistrates Court of South Australia, No 94/5717, 24 July 1995).
32. Australian Speleological Federation Inc v Minister for Environment and National Resources (1994) 84 LGERA 29.
33. Unusually, Tasmania has been the only State apart from New South Wales that has made some provision for legal aid for environmental cases. However, limited moneys have been allocated for that purpose.
34. This work followed on from support the office had given for the establishment of EDOs in other States and the Territories. In 1990, the office co-ordinated the formation of a steering committee for the establishment of EDOs, with representatives from other States. Ultimately though, developments elsewhere occurred through steering committees in each State and Territory, with EDO NSW coordinating the Access to Justice submission.
35. Oral Communication, Catherine Ettershank, adviser to the Minister for Justice, 24 January 1996.
36. Each office is to receive $70,000 core grant each year for the next three years. Relative to the EDO NSW core grant of $96,000 which was the foundation for the employment of three solicitors, there is potential scope in other States for more growth. This will of course depend on the availability of other funding sources, particularly for law reform and legal education work.
37. Commonwealth Attorney-GeneraPs Department, Justice Statement (AGPS, Canberra, May, 1995), p 93.
38. The Access to Justice Forum, Address by Hodgins J, Director, Legal Aid Commission Queensland, Forum Proceedings, 22 August 1994, p 91.
39. The Commission has already heard submissions on the issue and is expected to report in February 1996.
40. See Tasmanian Parliament, Hansard, 22 September 1995.
41. See Address by the Minister for Justice, the Hon Duncan Kerr MP, Launch of the National Network of Environmental Lawyers-Environmental Defender's Offices (EDOs), Melbourne, 24 January 1996.
42. Report of Commission of Inquiry into the Conservation, Management & Use of Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Region, Brisbane, May 1991, p 118.
43. Extract of letter from ELA President Murray Wilcox QC to the Commonwealth Legal Aid Council, dated 22 December 1981.