Oakey Coal Action Alliance’s appeal to be heard in High Court this morning

A complex legal battle over the future of the New Acland Coal Mine Stage 3 Expansion will be heard by the full bench of the Australian High Court this morning.

The Oakey Coal Action Alliance was granted leave to appeal to the High Court on June 5 this year.

OCAA is hoping the court will be able to decide whether the legal process in previous cases leading up to this point has been fair and proper.

In a statement earlier this year, Environmental Defenders Office solicitor Sean Ryan said the original Land Court decision that recommended against the approval of the expansion’s mining lease “was found to have failed to observe the requirements of procedural fairness, however it continued to affect subsequent decisions”.

“Our client, OCAA, is now asking for clarity,” Mr Ryan said.

New Acland first began applying for approvals for its stage three expansions 13 years ago and is fast running out of coal.

When the State Government did not grant the mine its outstanding approvals in September 2019, the mine sacked half its 300-strong workforce as it began winding back its operations to extend the life of the operation.

A further 25 workers were made redundant over the last month.

If the decision resulting from today’s High Court hearing does not fall in Acland’s favour, it is likely the matter will be sent back for a fresh Land Court hearing, which could spell the end of the mine.

Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union representative Michael Hartin has previously said that without approvals, the mine was staring down the barrel of “huge job losses”, “probably the majority of the workforce, certainly, well and truly before the middle of next year”.

This morning, some of the High Court justices will be sitting in Canberra, and the parties’ representatives will be appearing there in person.

Neither parties are expecting a decision to be made on the appeal immediately following this morning’s hearing.