The decision in NSW to declare something to be critical
infrastructure can be challenged without Ministerial permission.
Neither ecologically sustainable development or anthropogenic
climate change are mandatory considerations when deciding
applications for concept plans.
Once the NSW Government declares a proposed project to be
critical infrastructure, that's the end of it. That has been
the assumption, but a decision of the Land & Environment Court
has exploded it.
The Court in Haughton v Minister for Planning and Macquarie
Generation [2011] NSWLEC 217 made two key findings:
- first, the decision to declare something to be critical
infrastructure can be challenged without Ministerial permission,
contrary to the previous understanding of how section 75T of the
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) operated;
and
