Environmental approval for the expansion of Adani鈥檚 coal port at Abbot Point was ruled lawful in the Queensland Supreme Court on June 15.
Local group Whitsunday Residents Against Dumping (WRAD) had challenged the legality of the Queensland government鈥檚 decision to approve the controversial Abbot Point coal terminal expansion in Queensland鈥檚 Supreme Court on October 7.
As the celebrations marking 25 years of the Mabo decision died down, the Native Title Amendment (Indigenous Land Use Agreements) Bill 2017 quietly passed in the Senate on June 14, with the only opposition coming from the Greens.
The amending legislation effectively negates the Federal Court ruling of February 2 that all native title claimants had to sign off on an indigenous land use agreement (ILUA) for it to be registered.
The Adani company claims that a in the Carmichael coal mine has been made. However, campaigners have dismissed this announcement as a stunt and vowed the mine will never come into production.
Blair Palese of 350 Australia wrote to supporters on June 6: "We want to tell [Adani] that we are more committed than ever to STOP this project and ensure that sanity prevails by making sure this climate bomb never sees the light of day."
For the briefest of moments 鈥 and to everyone's great surprise 鈥 it seemed like the Queensland government was finally going to do one thing right in relation to the Adani coalmine.
Veteran environmental campaigner and former Greens senator has previously pointed to Adani鈥檚 proposed Carmichael coal mine as the of environmental protest in Australia. Yet the future of this 鈥渃limate bomb鈥 hangs in the balance.
Ninety-five year old Bill Ryan was one of about 15 protesters from the Galilee Blockade group who tried to meet mining contractor Downer鈥檚 chief executive Grant Fenn on May 16. Their aim was to encourage Downer to pull out of the Adani coal mine.
A report obtained by the ABC says coal prices will fall significantly and exports from Australia's biggest coal port will decline if Adani's Carmichael coalmine goes ahead.
If the coalmine went ahead, it would add 40 million tonnes a year to the market and global coal prices would fall by $3.80 to $65 a tonne.
Competition from the mine would reduce exports from the port of Newcastle by 11 to 12 million tonnes a year, which would lower the coal royalties NSW receives.
Labor has backed away from supporting Adani鈥檚 proposed Carmichael coalmine. Previously, Labor leader Bill Shorten said he supported the project 鈥渟o long as it stacks up鈥.
But on May 1, Labor鈥檚 energy and environment spokesperson Mark Butler warned it could hurt other coalmining areas. 鈥淚t will simply displace existing coal operations elsewhere in Australia,鈥 he told ABC News. 鈥淭here will be jobs lost elsewhere in Queensland or there will be jobs lost in the Hunter Valley.
Say what you will about the members of the Coalition government, but they have principles and they stick to them. In particular, the principle of working to destroy this godforsaken Hellhole of a planet as rapidly as humanly possible.
And so when, amid a growing campaign against Adani鈥檚 proposed Carmichael coalmine in Queensland, Westpac ruled out funding the mega-mine project, federal resources minister Matt Canavan did not hold back.
In a victory for the people-powered campaign against the Adani Carmichael coalmine, Westpac ruled out lending its funds to the corporation on April 28.
In a face-saving letter to Westpac employees, CEO Brian Hartzer talked up the company鈥檚 commitment to a net zero emissions economy and said its Third Climate Change Action Plan would help do this.
Hunter Valley dairy farmer Wendy Bowman, 83, who has battled for community rights against coal mining since the 1980s, has won the Goldman Environmental Prize. The prize is the world's pre-eminent environmental award for grassroots conservation, supporting individuals taking extraordinary actions to win victories against the odds.
Legislation was introduced into Tasmanian Parliament on April 6 to permanently ban trawling in the state鈥檚 waters. The amendment to the Living Marine Resource Management Act 1995 will ban trawlers of any size, including supertrawlers, and will also ban practices such as double trawl netting in Tasmanian waters.