Is the Australian Government Delivering on Climate Action?
Weeks after approving a major gas project extension, the government prevails in a court case brought by Torres Strait Islanders seeking climate justice.
In early May, Australians reelected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Labor government, and during his election night victory speech Albanese referenced addressing the climate crisis and seizing the opportunity of building out renewable energy. “Climate change is a challenge we must act together to meet,” he said.
Just weeks later, the Albanese government approved the extension of a major fossil gas project called the North West Shelf in western Australia. The approval extends the lifespan of one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas (LNG) facilities, operated by Woodside Energy, out to 2070. The project is expected to unleash billions of tons of carbon pollution and has thus been described as a ‘carbon bomb.’ Critics say the project’s approval contradicts the government’s purported climate commitments.
“The approval directly undermines Australia’s net zero climate commitments. It is predicted to emit some 4.4 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of more than 10 years of Australia’s total emissions,” said Zali Steggall, a member of the Australian House of Representatives. “This is not just shortsighted. It’s recklessly dangerous. It locks in emissions for decades to come, leaving our most vulnerable communities exposed.”
Another independent member of Parliament, Senator David Pocock, called the Labor government’s approval of the North West Shelf project a “betrayal” to the Australian people.
“It is devastating that the first act of a re-elected Albanese Labor Government is to approve the biggest fossil fuel project in our history,” Pocock said.
“This is a bitterly disappointing decision that locks in decades more climate pollution and will drive demand to open new gas fields,” Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O’Shanassy said. “That the gas is destined for export makes no difference to its climate impact. It will be felt by Australians through more intense and frequent extreme weather events like bushfires, heatwaves, floods and coral deaths.”
Australia currently ranks as one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels. An analysis published last year found that the country ranks second, behind only Russia, in terms of exported emissions since Australia exports significant amounts of coal, which is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of metallurgical coal (used in steelmaking) and second largest exporter of thermal coal. Its LNG exports have increased seven-fold over the past two decades, and the Australian government has approved 30 new coal and gas projects since 2021, according to a report released in March by the Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty Initiative.
“Consecutive Australian governments have supported rampant expansion of coal and gas extraction and now, communities across the country, including my own here near Lismore, are facing the havoc and destruction of extreme weather fueled by this industry,” Michael Poland, campaign manager for the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative based in northern New South Wales, said in a press release accompanying that report. “While our leaders wine and dine with coal and gas executives seeking donations for their election campaigns, everyday Australians are bearing the brunt of fires, floods, and now cyclones while we fear for the future our kids will inherit.”
Steggall, speaking via a recorded video message during a recent Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice, said that Australia has seen more than 20 declared extreme weather and natural disasters during the first half of this year alone. These disasters, supercharged by climate change, are already costing the Australian economy over $38 billion annually, and this is expected to double by 2060, she noted.
“We know we can’t insure our way out of the climate crisis. So increased action to mitigate the worst impacts by reducing emissions and adapting by urgently investing in resilience measures is needed,” Steggall said.
“Stop Lying to Us”
Earlier this week, a decision was handed down in a landmark climate lawsuit that sought to compel the Australian government to take stronger measures to slash greenhouse gas emissions and finance critical adaptation projects. The lawsuit, Pabai Pabai v. Commonwealth of Australia, was filed in 2021 by two indigenous inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands – Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai – alleging that the federal government had violated its legal duty of care to protect their island communities from increasingly severe climate harms. The Torres Strait Islands are already experiencing devastating climate impacts like flooding and king tides, saltwater intrusion, and erosion that are disrupting the Islanders’ traditional ways of life, and within decades some of the islands could become uninhabitable due to the climate emergency.
Yet despite recognizing the dire and existential threat these communities are facing, Australia’s federal court declined to rule in the Uncles’ favor. The court said that Australia does not owe the Torres Strait Islanders a duty of care under Australian common law, siding with the government in finding that matters concerning core government policy, like setting climate targets, are not suitable for judicial review.
“The law in Australia as it currently stands provides no real or effective legal avenue through which individuals and communities, like those in the Torres Strait Islands, can claim damages or other relief in respect to harm they claim to have suffered as a result of governmental decisions and conduct which involve matters of high or core government policy, including in respect of the responses to climate change and its impacts,” Justice Michael Wigney stated in a summarized version of his judgment, issued on July 15.
In other words, the court said the law offers no justice or relief for people suffering from climate change harms stemming, at least in part, from government conduct and decisions.
Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul in court following Uncle Paul's first round of questioning from lawyers. Credit: Ruby Mitchell, courtesy of Grata Fund
“My heart is broken, for my family and my community,” Uncle Pabai Pabai said in reacting to the court’s ruling.
“I want to ask Mr. Albanese, what I should say when I go home to my family, how do I tell them we have less than 30 years left?” Uncle Paul Kabai said.
In a statement responding to the outcome of the case, Chris Bowen, the minister for climate change and energy, defended the Labor government’s record and commitment to climate action.
“Where the former Government failed on climate change, the Albanese Government is delivering,” he said. “That’s why we’re continuing to turn around a decade of denial and delay on climate, embedding serious climate targets in law and making the changes necessary to achieve them.”
Aunty McRose Elu, a Torres Strait elder from the island of Saibai, said she is skeptical of the integrity of Bowen’s words.
“Since the decision, I heard that Minister Bowen has already said he understands the impacts of climate change and he thinks the government is delivering. I say he’s a liar,” she said. “Come and sit with me on Saibai and look those kids in the eyes, and you tell them that your government is doing enough when they have 30 years left on their islands. Your government just approved an extension of another massive fossil fuel project in [Western Australia] that will drown us. Stop lying to us.”
“The Law is Shifting…Soon, the ICJ Will Speak”
Next week, on July 23, the International Court of Justice will deliver its highly-anticipated advisory opinion clarifying countries’ obligations under international law to protect the climate system, as well as the legal consequences that should apply when countries have caused significant climate harm. Climate justice advocates say this will be a historic moment and that the opinion could help bolster climate action and accountability.
Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), the group that spearheaded the campaign to seek an advisory opinion on climate change from the ICJ (considered the world’s highest court), issued a statement of solidarity with the Torres Strait Islanders in the wake of the Australian Federal Court’s decision this week.
“The Court accepted the overwhelming scientific evidence. It recognized the real and immediate threat to Torres Strait communities. But still, it stopped short, claiming that existing Australian law does not provide a clear legal duty to act,” PISFCC said. “This case shows us exactly why international legal clarity is so urgent.”
“Just weeks ago, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights confirmed that states do have legal obligations to prevent climate-related human rights violations,” the statement continued. “Our call for Climate Justice at the ICJ, also revolves around creating exactly this kind of accountability, so that no community, no matter how remote, is left to drown in legal uncertainty. Yet this decision from the Federal Court of Australia overlooks these urgent demands from communities on the frontlines, who face irreversible harm without justice…
Our struggles are intertwined, and we carry it forward with renewed urgency,” the statement concluded. “Know your voices are not alone. The law is shifting. The world is watching. And soon, the ICJ will speak.”