Funding Could End for Environmental Activists Found to Have ‘Confected’ Indigenous Evidence

Australian legal lobbyists, the Environmental Defenders Office, were harshly criticised by a federal judge.

Protesters gather at the front of the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne, Australia on Nov. 15, 2022. This case involves Santos Ltd., and the major Barossa Gas project, located near the Tiwi Islands off the northern coast of Australia. Tamati Smith/Getty Images

Government funding for the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO)—a community legal service that says it runs “groundbreaking litigation and leading law reform advocacy”—is under review after Federal Court Justice Natalie Charlesworth issued a ruling that was highly critical of the organisation’s methods and behaviour.

As reported by The Epoch Times earlier in January, the EDO represented Tiwi Islanders in a case against plans by energy giant Santos to develop a $5.8 billion (US$3.8 billion) Barossa gas export pipeline. The plaintiffs lost, with the judge making several findings condemning the actions of the EDO and some of its witnesses.