Natural Resources Law in Australia: Principles and Practices
Keywords:
Natural resources law, environmental law, Australia
Abstract
What is the jurisprudential approach taken to Natural Resources Law in Australia? The ultimate source of law in Australia is Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act however the Constitution does not specifically include an environment or natural resources power and the Commonwealth government can only make laws under the heads of power provided by the Constitution. This paper considers how natural resources law has developed as environmental protection law, especially the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Also discussed is the approach taken by the Northern Territory of Australia in relation to natural resources law. The discussion unearths the developing jurisprudence in Australian natural resources law that seems to increasingly favour environmental protection over human development.
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Alan Boyle & David Freestone,’Introduction’ in Alan Boyle & David Freestone (eds), International Law and Sustainable Development (Oxford University Press, 1999)
British Columbia v Canadian Forest Products Ltd, 2004 SCC 38 at para 7, [2004] 2 SCR 74
Canada Ltée (Spraytech Soceiété d’arrosage) v Spraytech (Town), 2001 SCC 40, [2001] 2 Bergen Ministerial Declaration on Sustainable Development, GA Res 44/228, UN GAOR, 1990, UN Doc A/CONF 151/PC/10
Case Concerning the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary v Slovkakia), [1997] ICJ Rep 7
Chris Tollefson & Jamie Thornback, ‘Litigating the Precautionary Principle in Domestic Courts’ (2008) 19 (1) J Envtl L & Prac 33
Edith Brown-Weiss, In Fairness to Future Generations (Transnational Publishers, 1989)
Hon Justice Brian J Preston, “Judicial Implementation of the Principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development in Australia and Asia” (Paper delivered at the Law Society of New South Wales Regional Presidents Meeting, Sydney, 21 July 2006
Imperial Oil Ltd v Quebec (Minister of the Environment), 2003 SCC 58 at para 23, [2003] 2 SCR 624
Jerry DeMarco, ‘Law for Future Generations: A Theory of Intergenerational Equity in Canadian Environmental Law’ (2005) 15 J Envtl L & Prac 1
Johannesburg Principles on the Role of Law and Sustainable Development-Statement adopted at the Global Judges Symposium on Sustainable Development and the Role of Law, Johannesburg, South Africa, 18-20 August 2002’ (2003) 15 J Envtl L 107
John Dernbach, ‘Achieving Sustainable Development: The Centrality and Multiple Facets of Integrated Decision-making’ (2003) 10 Ind J Global Legal Stud 247
John Robinson, ‘Squaring the Circle? Some Thoughts on the Idea of Sustainable Development’ (2004) 48 Ecological Economics 369.
Klaus Bosselmann, ‘Sustainability and the Courts: A Journey Yet to Begin?’ (2010) 3(1) Journal of Court Innovation 337
Klaus Bosselmann, Principles of Sustainability: Transforming Law and Governance (Ashgate Publishing Group, 2008)
Letter from Scott Vaughan, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, to Jim Prentice, Minister of Environment (7 June 2010), online: Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, 15 April 1994, 1867 UNTS 154, 33 ILM 1144
Michael Jacobs, ‘Sustainable Development as a Contested Concept’ in Andrew Dobson (ed) Fairness and Futurity (Oxford University Press, 2004)
New Zealand, Ministry for the Environment, Resource Management Law Reform: Sustainability, Intrinsic Values and the Needs of Future Generations, Working Paper 24 (Wellington: Ministry for the Environment, 1989)
Philippe Sands, ‘International Law in the Field of Sustainable Development: Emerging Legal Principles’ in Winfried Lang, ed, Sustainable Development and International Law (Graham & Trotman, 1995)
Stephen Dovers & Robin Connor, ‘Institutional and Policy Change for Sustainability’ in Benjamin J Richardson & Stepan Wood, eds, Environmental Law for Sustainability (Hart, 2006)
World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (Oxford University Press, 1997)
WTO, Appellate Body, United States — Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products, WTO Doc WT/DS58/AB/R (1999) at para 129, online: WTO
Published
2019-07-12
How to Cite
Kelly, D. (2019). Natural Resources Law in Australia: Principles and Practices. Jambe Law Journal, 1(2), 155-176. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.22437/jlj.1.2.155-176
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