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Duty of Care, Duty to Care

Held on the 18th Nov 2021

at 6pm to
7:15pm


Add to Calendar 2021-11-18 18:00:00 2021-11-18 19:15:00 Australia/Sydney Duty of Care, Duty to Care Eight teenagers and a nun took the Environment Minister, the Honourable Sussan Ley MP, to court. Join First Dog on the Moon in conversation with the enviro teens to find out what happened next… Stanley Burbury Theatre, Sandy Bay campus and online
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Venue:

Stanley Burbury Theatre, Sandy Bay campus and online

Summary:

Eight teenagers and a nun took the Environment Minister, the Honourable Sussan Ley MP, to court. Join First Dog on the Moon in conversation with the enviro teens to find out what happened next…


2021 Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Lecture

Cartoon by First Dog on the Moon

Book your ticket to join in person at the Stanley Burbury Theatre or by Zoom webinar.

“As Australian adults know their country, Australia will be lost and the World as we know it gone as well. The physical environment will be harsher, far more extreme and devastatingly brutal when angry. As for the human experience – quality of life, opportunities to partake in nature’s treasures, the capacity to grow and prosper – all will be greatly diminished. Lives will be cut short. Trauma will be far more common and good health harder to hold and maintain.

None of this will be the fault of nature itself. It will largely be inflicted by the inaction of this generation of adults, in what might fairly be described as the greatest inter-generational injustice ever inflicted by one generation of humans upon the next.”

-Justice Mordecai Bromberg (Sharma v Minister for the Environment July 2021)

In March 2021, eight teenagers (and their litigation guardian, Sister Brigid), went to court in an action against the Federal Minister for the Environment.  Their case aimed to demonstrate that, under Australian law, the Minister has a duty to protect young people from the future harm caused by climate change and a duty to consider that harm when assessing mining projects.

They won.

For the first time, the Federal Court found that the Minister has a duty to take reasonable care to avoid causing personal injury to future generations.

The Minister has appealed against this finding and approved four new and expanded mining projects since the decision was made.  The appeal, to be heard in late October, could have significant consequences for the way that fossil fuel projects are assessed.

Decorative imageJoin First Dog on the Moon as he chats with these brave teenagers and their lawyer, David Barnden, about what this case means for the law in Australia, why it was up to kids to resort to legal action, and why was a nun involved?

Find out more about the Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Fund, here: www.utas.edu.au/law-alumni/sandy-duncanson-social-justice-lecture

Join the Zoom Webinar


Want to find out more about the case?

https://equitygenerationlawyers.com/cases/sharma-v-minister-for-environment/

http://envlaw.com.au/sharma/

http://climatecasechart.com/climate-change-litigation/non-us-case/raj-seppings-v-ley/

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/the-schoolgirl-who-took-australia-s-environment-minister-to-court-on-climate-change

https://chuffed.org/project/sharma