Frances Gordon

Gas giant Woodside has hit back at claims by activist groups that the federal environment minister's department "negotiated" with the company ahead of approving a 40-year extension to its North West Shelf project.

Activist group Friends of Australian Rock Art have alleged environment and water minister Murray Watt "cherry picked" potential economic and social benefits of Woodside's North West Shelf project while ignoring the harms.

Communications between the environment minister's department and Woodside over the gas company's controversial North West Shelf project raised concerns about the apprehension of bias, activist group Australian Conservation Foundation has told a trial judge.

A judge hearing a challenge to Woodside's North West Shelf extension will hear arguments from a UN special rapporteur on the relevance of international law, including an International Court of Justice opinion that held countries have an obligation to protect the climate from greenhouse gas emissions.

An activist group has amended its challenge to Woodside's North West Shelf gas project to allege the Environment Minister delayed publishing his reasons for approving the project in order to limit challenges, with the court hearing the dispute will likely wind up at the High Court. 

A United Nations special rapporteur has sought to intervene in three Federal Court cases opposing the federal environment minister's decision to approve gas giant Woodside's North West Shelf extension.

The High Court has approved the imposition of additional land tax on non-residents and foreign-owned entities, finding that the Commonwealth government had the power to limit the application of international tax agreements.

An environmental group has lost a court challenge to controlled burns in the state’s Strathbogie Forest, despite arguing they would destroy the habitat of the endangered Southern greater glider. 

A judge has quashed the OAIC’s decision to reject a second class action-style complaint filed over the massive Optus data breach, finding the Privacy Act does not bar second-in-time proceedings. 

A judge has dismissed a bid by Medibank to restrain the Office of Australian Information Commissioner from proceeding with a class action-style complaint on behalf of millions of the private health insurer's customers affected by an October 2022 data breach.