Queensland’s New Acland coal mine to expand operations after win against environmental lawfare
One of Queensland’s controversial coal mines’ is cementing plans to rapidly expand after ending a decade-long fight with environmentalists, which has led to calls for the state government to crack down on climate lawfare.
One of Queensland's controversial coal mines will begin a rapid expansion after the end of a decade-long fight with environmentalists, which has led to calls for the state government to crack down on climate “lawfare”.
The New Acland coal mine near Toowoomba, 125km west if Brisbane, will move ahead with its planned stage three expansion after the Oakey Coal Action Alliance last week withdrew its Land Court appeal to a government-issued water licence for the project.
New Acland Coal general manager Dave O’Dwyer said the number of workers on-site was slated to grow by more than a third over the coming year from about 280 to 400.
“It’s just good to finally have the clarity that we’re in the clear,” he said.
“We’ve got all the approvals that we need, and we can continue mining and continue our build-up of the operation.”
Legal action by some local farmers against the thermal coal mine’s owner, New Hope, was backed by the taxpayer-funded Environmental Defenders Office and cost the company more than $100m to defend in the Supreme Court, Land Court and High Court.
Queensland Resources Council chief executive Janette Hewson said the years of forced delays in the mine expansion through “lawfare”, with legal challenges from claimants with little or no connection to the project, showed a desperate need for reform of the appeals process.
A 2024 report by the Resources Council into the streamlining of the industry found the government must be “balanced, fair, efficient and effective” in the way it handles the objections and appeals processes to prevent lawfare.
“The approvals process can be streamlined to allow more resources projects to come online sooner and still maintain Queensland’s strong environmental standards,’’ Ms Hewson said.
“Appeals should be for those with a direct interest in a project rather than activist groups seeking to stop or delay projects simply because they are coal or gas.”
New Hope pushed ahead with a partial $900m expansion of the coal mine and began extracting coal from the site in 2023.
The company first lodged its application to extend the open-cut pit more than 15 years ago.
The New Acland mine was forced to close for two years in 2021 after the expansion was stalled by the legal challenges and the initial site ran dry of coal, which forced more than 100 redundancies.
The former Palaszczuk Labor government awarded New Hope the water licence for the expansion in 2022.
Stuart Bocking, chief executive of the sector’s peak body Coal Australia, previously claimed some groups did not care whether they eventually won or lost court cases, so long as projects were delayed or abandoned, which would only serve to discourage investment in the nation’s resources industry.
Mr Bocking also gave credit to New Hope’s perseverance through the legal challenges to “ultimately validate” the development approvals.
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