Teals consulting with the Environmental Defenders Office for climate advice

Teal MPs are taking advice on legislation from the Environmental Defenders Office, ramping up calls to pull taxpayer funding from the green ‘lawfare’ group.

Allegra Spender was one of a group of teal MPs who have taken advice from the Environmental Defenders Office on climate legislation.

Teal MPs are taking advice on climate and environment legislation from the Environmental Defenders Office, ramping up calls from the Coalition and the mining industry to pull taxpayer funding from the green “lawfare” group.

Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, North Sydney MP Kylea Tink, Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps, Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel and ACT senator David Pocock revealed they have consulted the EDO about how they should push to reform Labor’s climate and environmental legislation.

The government has allocated $8.6m in funding for the EDO in the budget, with the Coalition saying public funding for the group was on track to reach $15m by the end of the decade.

Ms Spender said she supported the EDO receiving taxpayer funding. “I talk to a wide range of experts, environmental groups and business groups about these issues – including organisations like the Environmental Defenders Office and the Business Council of Australia,” she said.

Ms Tink said the EDO was “one of many stakeholders that I consult with on environmental and climate change legislation as it’s crucial Australia’s environmental laws actually do the job of protecting the environment for ­future generations”.

“At a time when Peter Dutton’s energy policy appears to be written by Gina Rinehart and the fossil fuel lobby, and Labor’s energy policy by the gas industry, it’s crucial that crossbenchers speak to a wide variety of stakeholders to ensure voices other than vested interests are heard,” Ms Tink said.

EDO chief executive David Morris denied the group had been lobbying MPs. “EDO is a specialist Community Legal Centre that provides legal advice to the community on environmental policy and law,” Mr Morris said. “We advocate for environmental law reform in the public interest, which is consistent with our charitable purpose to protect the environment.”

The opposition’s environment spokesman, Jonno Duniam, attacked the Teals for receiving advice on legislation from the EDO.

“It is atrocious that the Teals are taking policy advice from an organisation that has been accused of gross misconduct by a Federal Court judge and that uses green lawfare against vital industries and job-creating projects across the country,” he said. “Funding of the EDO is one of the very worst allocations of taxpayer money in this term of parliament.”

A Minerals Council of Australia analysis showed the EDO sought legal action against 16 projects over the past three years that impact 45,000 jobs.

The MCA claims projects with the potential for more than 18,000 jobs are being held up by EDO litigation, but that analysis was rejected by Mr Morris as “misleading and ill-founded”.

“In reality, only a tiny percentage of major projects are subject to challenge by our clients,” he said.

MCA chief executive Tania Constable said a “sharp rise in lawfare cases across the country is a direct threat to Australia’s mining sector”, saying this would impact economic growth and jobs.

“Australian taxpayers should not be funding a group of lawyers whose core goal is to stop or delay new mining projects, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk,” she told The Australian.

“With a recent court decision calling out its lack of integrity, the EDO must reassess its approach and stop undermining the nation’s prosperity and jobs.

“The minerals sector contributed $63bn in taxes and royalties in 2021-22. If Australians realised their taxes were going to lawyers actively working to undermine that national wealth, they would be horrified.”

Environment Tanya Plibersek said the MCA’s claims were “absolute rubbish”, and that three-quarters of funding for the EDO was from charitable donations.

“Environmental approvals are almost twice as on time under Labor than the former Coalition governments,” she said.

“Critical minerals projects have been approved 100 per cent on time under Labor, compared to 38 per cent under the opposition.”

Ms Plibersek in February ordered her department to conduct a government review after a Federal Court judgment in January found the EDO had constructed evidence in making its case against the Santos-operated gas project.

The federal review found the EDO did not breach the terms of its grant agreement and there was “no evidence (of) potential fraud”.