Hannah Douglas

A native title group has won an appeal to the High Court over a 30-year licence granted by the Northern Territory government to Fortune Agribusiness to extract groundwater for irrigation on its property.

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.

An activist group can't block the owners of Claravale Station from clearing almost 3,000 hectares of savanna in the Northern Territory, with a judge finding it would be difficult to prove the government’s decision was legally unreasonable.

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. 

An appeals court has allowed developer Sayers Property's $1.9 million insurance claim in relation to a $11 million purchase of land.

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.

Two activist groups have launched fresh action against Woodside's North West Shelf gas project, after the energy company secured final government approval for an extension to the venture.