Queensland Ends $500,000 a Year Funding Deal for Environmental Activist Law Firm

The Environmental Defenders Office has been the subject of scrutiny nationally for its troubled legal practices.

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

The Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) government has scrapped a key funding stream for the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) in the state.

The EDO provides environmental legal aid for farmers and Indigenous communities, but the national body has been embroiled in controversy after being ordered to pay $9 million by the Federal Court.

The EDO lost that case and was found by the judge to have coached witnesses in its lawsuit against energy giant Santos.

Meanwhile, the Queensland EDO’s $500,000 a year funding agreement from the state over the past five years will lapse from July 1.

The money helped the organisation employ two lawyers and maintain its operations in Cairns and Brisbane.

Over 1,500 Services at Risk: EDO

EDO Chief Executive David Morris issued a public statement saying the funding cut would leave many without access to environmental justice.

“The loss of this funding is a blow to the hundreds of farmers, First Nations people and regional Queenslanders who have come to us each year for advice about this very complex area of law,” he said.

“Over the past five years, Qld government funding has enabled us to provide about 1,500 legal services to people who otherwise could not possibly afford legal advice.”

Morris added the EDO would continue operating thanks to public donations, but the loss would inevitably mean turning people away.

A Broken Promise?

Morris said the decision directly contradicts an assurance last year by LNP Shadow Minister for Environment Sam O’Connor, who publicly committed to maintaining the funding if the party formed government.

Citing O’Connor’s own words, he added: “Queenslanders care about their local environment so landholders and communities deserve some form of access to legal advice when potential threats arise to the special places they love.”

The promise was also documented in an email sent by O’Connor to Cairns and Far North Environment Centre director Lucy Graham.

Agreement Honoured, But Not Extended: LNP

In a statement, the Queensland government confirmed no new money would be allocated beyond the existing arrangement by the previous Labor government.

“As per our commitment before the election, we honoured Labor’s funding agreement in its entirety which expired at the end of June 2025,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

“There is no additional money budgeted beyond that period of time.”

In the Federal Court case against Santos Energy, the federal EDO represented the Indigenous Tiwi Islanders in a bid to prevent the oil and gas company from developing its $5.8 billion (US$3.8 billion) Barossa gas export pipeline.

The group arguing that it could disturb the “Jirakupai” or “Crocodile Man songline,” which runs from Cape Fourcroy on the westernmost point of Bathurst Island into the deep sea near the pipeline route.

But Justice Natalie Charlesworth said the evidence involved “confection” and the coaching of witnesses to such an extent that “I cannot accept that the witness statements contain words actually spoken by the witnesses and recorded verbatim.”

She referred to one witness, who had supposedly prepared a document presented to the court, including his own witness statement, “but who, when shown it in cross-examination, appeared to be unfamiliar with it.”

The controversy led the then-opposition to promise to permanently end funding for the group if it won office. It is unsure of the Labor government will continue funding the group.

Rex Widerstrom contributed to this article.