A Federal Government proposal that would reduce the power of radical green activists to bring “vigilante litigation” against Queensland resource projects has been welcomed by Rockhampton-based Senator Matt Canavan.
“This would be great news for projects, jobs, communities and families throughout Queensland,” Senator Canavan said. “Everyone here knows there is a highly-organised, well-funded campaign to delay mining project approvals in Queensland by using the courts.
“There will be massive support for this proposal in Central Queensland and North Queensland in particular. We need mining projects so thousands of families here can put food on the table. Activists want to make them a lawyers’ picnic. That’s got to stop.”
Senator Canavan was responding to an announcement by Attorney-General George Brandis that the Federal Government has decided to protect Australian jobs by removing from the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) the provision that allows radical green activists to engage in vigilante litigation to stop important economic projects.
“I agree entirely with the Attorney-General’s statement that the activists themselves have declared their objective is to use the courts not for the proper purpose of resolving a dispute between citizens, but for a collateral political purpose of bringing developments to a standstill, and sacrificing the jobs of tens of thousands of Australians in the process.
“No part of Australia has more to lose than Central and North Queensland, where developments like the proposed Carmichael coal mine can provide thousands of desperately-needed jobs.”
