Federal approval to clear more than 2,000 hectares of Queensland native forest in the catchment for the Great Barrier Reef could potentially be held up for months after the Environmental Defender’s Office launched court action to prevent it.

The federal court proceedings against the state environment minister and the owners of Kingvale station come as the federal environment minister, Melissa Price, extended the time to make a decision on the controversial Kingvale proposal to 31 October.

The government recently allocated $500m to protect the reef, highlighting runoff from agricultural land and cleared land as a major threat to water quality.

Kingvale, owned by Scott Harris, had originally been given permission by the Queensland Newman government to clear nearly 3,000 hectares. About 500ha was been legally cleared before the federal government “called in” the project. Several rivers flowing to Princess Charlotte Bay are located within the area.

Kingvale has become the latest battleground between environmental groups seeking to protect the reef, and those who see development as essential for Cape York.

The court action, if successful, could force the government to undertake a more comprehensive process including seeking public submissions. The current assessment uses the least rigorous assessment process available under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act.

The case is being brought by the Environmental Defenders Office NSW for its client, the Environmental Council of Central Queensland.

The EDO argues in its statement of claim that the minister has made an error of law, by either failing to reach the state of satisfaction about the safety of the land-clearing required under the federal law or that the minister applied the wrong test.

A draft recommendation released in May by the department, and currently under consideration by the minister, who makes the decision, said the land-clearing could go ahead subject to safeguards.

These include limiting clearing to flat land to “manage the risks” of erosion and sedimentation. It also said clearing should not occur within 100 metres of a watercourse or wetland, contour banks must be used to manage water flow and erosion should be repaired before each wet season.

But according to the findings of the government’s own expert report, the clearing would impact water quality in the Great Barrier Reef and was likely to significantly impact listed threatened species such as the northern quoll.

The EDO argues that dealing with mitigation before assessing the risks is wrong.

Instead of requiring a full environmental assessment and inviting public submissions, the EDO says the minister used the fast-track method of assessment – relying on the referral information provided in the application – instead of directing a more rigorous assessment.

“A fundamental component of this aspect of the legislation is about ensuring that this least rigorous assessment approach is only used in certain, appropriate, circumstances. Our client will argue that in this case, the minister’s approach to this decision-making requirement was legally flawed and unlawful,” the EDO’s director, David Morris, said.

EDO also says the minister ignored the strong public concern that surround the Great Barrier Reef marine park’s future. Even though there were more than 6,000 submissions on Kingvale’s application, the department assessed the degree of public concern as “moderately low”.

“The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral ecosystem in the world, an international icon, and as Australians we have the responsibility to protect it. The reef is already struggling to recover from back-to-back coral bleaching, climate change and poor quality water.

Christine Carlisle from the the Queensland environmental group said: “Allowing further runoff into Princess Charlotte Bay from large scale tree-clearing is an insult to the reef’s resilience.”

Cape York traditional owners call for land-clearing halt to protect burial sites Read more

The decision of the previous minister to call in Kingvale has divided the Coalition. Barnaby Joyce, then agriculture minister, wrote in August 2016 saying there was insufficient evidence to suggest that the clearing would cause a decline in water quality . Minister Canavan, then the minister for northern Australia said he did not believe the commonwealth should override the Queensland government’s permit.

The government has also sent mixed messages about its commitment to protecting the reef.

In the 2018-19 budget it has allocated nearly $500m to the reef and then awarded it to a little known group, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, for further study of the reef, including the impacts of runoff, which are likely to be exacerbated by land-clearing and cropping.

The EDO has been successful in the past in overturning approvals on the basis that the government had failed to follow its own processes. In 2015 it succeeded in overturning the Abbott government’s approval for Adani’s Carmichael mine, though it was later given approval after a fresh consideration by the minister.

Offical land-clearing figures, contained in the national greenhouse gas accounts, released a week ago at the same time as the banking royal commission report, show at least 152,000 hectares was felled in 2016-17 alone. Forests covering 770,000ha – an area about three times the size of the Australian Capital Territory – in the reef catchment zone have been bulldozed over the past five years.

The legal representative for Kingvale did not return calls.



