Wide Bay Conservation Council v Burnett Water Pty Ltd: The Queensland Lungfish Case

Key Points:

The Court found that the condition attached to the approval under the EPBC Act requiring a fishway had been complied with.

On 4 March 2011, Justice Logan of the Federal Court of Australia handed down his decision in Wide Bay Conservation Council Inc v Burnett Water Pty Ltd (No 8) [2011] FCA 175. The case provides a recent example of public interest litigation being instituted by an "interested person" under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act's (EPBC Act) broad standing powers in relation to compliance with a condition on an approval.

The dam and the rare fish

The case concerned a condition attached to the construction of Paradise Dam on the Burnett River. The Burnett River is one of the few rivers in Australia inhabited by the Queensland lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri.