THE DEVIL IN THE DETAIL: TARKINE NATIONAL COALITION INC V MINISTER FOR SUSTAINABILITY, ENVIRONMENT, WATER, POPULATION AND COMMUNITIES

In this case, a judge of the Federal Court of Australia declared the decision of the respondent Minister to approve the development and operation of a mine in north west Tasmania invalid on the ground that the Minister had not considered the text of a document known as the Approved Conservation Advice for the Tasmanian Devil ('the ACA') as required by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) ('EPBC Act'). Although the briefing information before the Minister referred to the ACA, this was held not to be sufficient to satisfy s 139(2) of the EPBC Act because it could not be said that genuine consideration had been given to the document. The applicant for judicial review, Tarkine National Coalition ('TNC') raised three other grounds which attacked conditions that the Minister attached to the approval to 'compensate for unavoidable impacts on Tasmanian devils and their habitat'. However, the Court rejected these other grounds, finding the conditions were authorised by s 134 of the Act, were not inconsistent with Australia's international obligations and were otherwise reasonable.