George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have been calling for our legal counteroffensive to stop the extreme green groups out there from engaging in 'lawfare,' or legal warfare, against job-creating projects. I issued the call due to continual actions taken against Adani's Carmichael coalmine project in Central Queensland, which workers desperate for jobs and businesses in dire need of economic stimulus in my electorate of Dawson have been eagerly awaiting. I thank the honourable Attorney-General for agreeing that action does need to be taken. I spoke to the Attorney-General shortly after the Carmichael mine approval was delayed in the courts. I said it was unacceptable that groups that had nothing to do with this project were able to hold up and try to kill off jobs by waging warfare through the legal system. I note that, in an interview on Sunday, the Attorney-General said that he wanted to stop such vigilante litigation. He stated:

… the Adani case has shown why it's very important that the courts not be used as a forum for vigilante litigation by people whose aim is to game the system, who have no legitimate interest other than to prosecute a political vendetta against development and bring massive developments … to a standstill.

Of course, people who are directly affected by a project should have the ability to take court action, but groups like the Mackay Conservation Group and the Environmental Defenders Office, who are located hundreds of miles away from the Carmichael mine, should not be able to mount disruptive and job-destroying court action against these projects.