[2011] VCAT 1230 (30 June 2011) This case is available at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/V… This case was not a climate change case per se but is of interest given the increasing use (and abuse) of FOI laws to seek information about government climate policy and regulatory action. The applicant had applied under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 [...]
A growing area of climate-related litigation in Australia concerns challenges to windfarm developments under applicable planning laws. These cases seek to use climate change not as a ‘sword’ to attack government decision-making and institute regulatory change, but rather as a ‘shield’ to justify particular decision-making outcomes. Cases are usually brought by local community members or [...]
[2011] VCAT 76 (24 January 2011) This case is available at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/V… This case is of interest for the consideration it gave to questions of climate change adaptation beyond the context of sea level rise/coastal flooding which has dominated the Australian adaptation case law to date. At issue was a proposal to build a community hall [...]
[2010] VCAT 1755 (3 November 2010) This case is available at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/V… This case involved a third party appeal under s 64 of the Water Act 1989 (Vic) for a review of a licence to ‘take and use’ groundwater granted to 2 pairs of applicants which permitted them to extract between 490Ml and 594 MI (respectively). [...]
[2010] WASAT 117 This case is available at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/wa/WA… This case is notable as the first decision of the Western Australian State Administrative Tribunal to apply Clause D.3 of the State Planning Policy 2.6 State Coastal Planning Policy, which anticipates a 0.38 metre increase in sea level rise due to climate change between 2000 and 2100. [...]
This case is available at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/V… In this case the Applicant, Mr Hooper, lodged an application with Casey City Council for 22 dwellings to be built on the South Gippsland Highway. The subject site and neighbouring land came within a Land Subject to Inundation Overlay, necessitating a permit for buildings and works. Melbourne Water and South [...]
The case is available at:http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2009/2231.html This case involved a merits review by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal of Condition 4 on a permit granted for the subdivision of land in Metung, East Gippsland. Member Peter O’Leary was confined to interpreting the wording of Condition 4, and did not consider the broader question of whether [...]
Spurred by the VCAT decision in the Gippsland Coastal Board case and the subsequent development of Vic government policies on planning for coastal climate change and sea level rise (see separate post on this issue), an increasing number of cases are coming before VCAT raising issues of adaptation to future climate change along the Victorian [...]
This case is available at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/V… This case concerned a decision by the Hobson Bay City Council to refuse to grant a permit for the construction of a semi-detached pair of large, two-storey dwellings, citing a number of reasons relating largely to lack of respect to neighbourhood character. A further ground included the possibility that the [...]
This case is available at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/V… In this proceeding, the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (WGCMA) applied to the Tribunal for a review of the East Gippsland Shire Council’s (the Council) decision to grant a permit for use and development of a dwelling and removal of vegetation. Even thought the party applying for the permit failed [...]