Latest news with #dutyofcare
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Court rules Australian govt owes no duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders to protect them from Climate Change
In a landmark ruling, an Australian court has found the government owes no duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders to protect them from the impacts of climate change. Monash University climate law expert Dr Ella Vines spoke to World Watch's Niva Chittock. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
BBC News
a day ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Torres Strait Islands: Australia wins landmark climate battle against Indigenous elders
The Australian government has won a landmark climate case against residents of islands under siege from the impacts of climate 2021, community elders Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai launched legal action against the then-Liberal government for breaching its duty of care to protect the Torres Strait Islands from the impacts of climate change. But a Federal Court judge dismissed the case and said climate policy was a matter for parliament, not the courts. The ruling also found that the government did not owe a duty of care to protect the islands from the impacts of climate change. The Torres Strait Islands - located between far-north Queensland and Papua New Guinea - are made up of about 270 islands, of which only a few dozen are 4,000 people live on the islands, according to the latest official figures, with 90% identifying as their submission, Uncle Pabai and Uncle Kabai said sea levels in the north of Australia had been rising "significantly higher than the global average".Between 1993 and 2019, sea levels in the Torres Strait rose by about 6 cm per decade, the court was court also heard that the islands are home to a "distinctive customary culture known as Ailan Kastom", where the residents have a "unique spiritual and physical connection" to the islands and waters. The case added that by failing to take greater action against climate change in its emissions targets, the islands' unique culture would be lost, and residents would become climate Justice Michael Wigney said that while he recognised the "devastating impact" caused to the islands by climate change, current negligence laws in Australia do not allow for compensation where the loss of culture, customs and traditions were the result of a government's acknowledged that while "climate change related flooding and inundation events had damaged their sacred sites and the burial grounds of their ancestors", matters of "core government policy" such as emissions targets was "ordinarily to be decided through political processes, not by judges".He did however recognise that action was needed: "There could be little, if any, doubt that the Torres Strait Islands and their traditional inhabitants will face a bleak future if urgent action is not taken to address climate change and its impacts."For Uncle Pabai the decision was devastating. "My heart is broken for my family and my community," he said in statement according to local media. In his submission to the court, Uncle Pabai - a community leader from Boigu island - described the deep spiritual connection he and other locals have with the land and waters, especially the cemeteries as "talking to my ancestors is a big part of my culture"."If Boigu was gone, or I had to leave it, because it was underwater, I will be nothing," he wrote in his court submission. Uncle Paul, the other elder behind the court action, was equally stunned by the findings."I thought that the decision would be in our favour, and I'm in shock," he said. "This pain isn't just for me, it's for all people Indigenous and non-Indigenous who have been affected by climate change. What do any of us say to our families now?" During earlier court hearings, Uncle Paul had described his childhood memories of Saibai in the 1970s and 1980s when it was a "land of plenty", with an abundance of barramundi and crabs in inland freshwater swamps. But now, more extreme weather events and higher sea levels meant an increase in saltwater coming inland, and coupled with less rain, the higher salt levels in the swamps have made it impossible for fish and crabs to survive, he said. He told the court about a seawall - built around 2017 - that was breached by a king tide in 2000, destroying crops and flooding homes. "If the water keeps on rising, in the way it has in the last 10 years or so, the seawall will not be able to protect Saibai at all," he said in his submission. "My country would disappear. I would lose everything: my home, my community, my culture, my stories, my identity. Without Saibai, I do not know who I would be," the court heard. In handing down his decision, Justice Wigney said that while the previous government "paid scant if any regard to the best available science" in setting emissions reductions, the new targets set by Labor were "significantly higher and more ambitious".In a joint statement following the court decision, Australia's Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen and Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy, said they "understand that the Torres Strait Islands are vulnerable to climate change, and many are already feeling the impacts"."Where the former Government failed on climate change, the Albanese Government is delivering – because it's in the interest of all Australians," the statement Moodley, from the University of NSW's Institute of Climate Risk and Response said while the decision was "definitely a setback" for Torres Strait Islanders, it does not mean the law can not change."The reality is that Australian law will need adapt to meet the challenges of climate change," she told the BBC. Her colleague Wesley Morgan said the court's finding should also propel greater action from government on its climate policies. "It must listen to the science telling us we need be ambitious as possible in the decade ahead," he said.
News.com.au
a day ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Shock result handed down in Torres Strait climate case
The Australian government has no duty of care over the people or the islands of the Torres Strait with regard to climate change, despite admitting 'devastating impacts' were being felt by the region, the Federal Court of Australia has found. In 2021, two Torres Strait Islander men sued the federal government for what they said was a 'breach of duty of care' over their islands, which continue to be ravaged by rising sea levels and other climate change-related damages. Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai are elders on their respective home islands of Saibai and Boigu, both of which are under significant environmental stresses induced by man-made climate change. Coastal erosion, erratic weather conditions, and rapid depletion of sea life populations are just some of the phenomena which, the pair said, the Government had a duty to protect the islands against. In submissions to the court, Uncle Paul Kabai said the people of the Torres Strait were nothing without their island homes. 'We won't have our culture … if Sabai goes under water, we lose everything. Our culture, our identity, our livelihood. It will all be gone,' he said. Uncle Pabai Pabai echoed this sentiment in his own submission. 'If Boigu was gone, or I had to leave it because it was under water, I will be nothing. I will have nothing … I will become nobody.' Handing down his judgement on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Michael Andrew Wigney said he accepted 'many of the factual allegations' upon which the case was based. 'I've accepted the scientific evidence … concerning the devastating impacts that human-induced climate change has had, and continues to have, on the Torres Strait Islands and on the traditional inhabitants … their culture and way of life,' Justice Wigney said. 'Severe erosion, the salination of wetlands and previously arable land, the degradation of fragile ecosystems … has become more frequent and more severe in recent times,' he said. 'There is a very real risk that the worst fears of the applicants will be realised.' Despite his sympathy towards the plight of the Torres Strait Islands and their people, Justice Wigney ultimately ruled in favour of the Commonwealth, bringing the four-year journey of Uncles Kabai and Pabai to a muted conclusion. He found the Commonwealth 'did not, and does not owe Torres Strait Islanders the duty of care alleged by the applicants'. 'The reasonableness of decisions of this nature are … to be decided through political processes, not by judges.' In his closing remarks, Justice Wigney said his judgement, though not in favour of the applicants, was 'not intended to be a criticism of the applicants or their case or their legal advisers'. 'The reality is that the law in Australia, as it currently stands, provides no real or effective legal avenue through which individuals and communities … can claim damages or other relief,' he said. 'That will remain the case unless, and until, the law in Australia changes … until then, the only real avenue available to those in the position of the applicants … involves public advocacy and protest.' Energy Minister Chris Bowen said people in the Torres Strait were 'already feeeling the impacts' of climate change. He added the government was in the final stages of a plan which would 'help all communities understand climate risk and build a more resilient country for all Australians'.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Shock result in Torres Strait climate case
The Australian government has no duty of care over the people or the islands of the Torres Strait with regard to climate change, despite admitting 'devastating impacts' were being felt by the region, the Federal Court of Australia has found. In 2021, two Torres Strait Islander men sued the federal government for what they said was a 'breach of duty of care' over their islands, which continue to be ravaged by rising sea levels and other climate change-related damages. Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai are elders on their respective home islands of Saibai and Boigu, both of which are under significant environmental stresses induced by man-made climate change. Coastal erosion, erratic weather conditions, and rapid depletion of sea life populations are just some of the phenomena which, the pair said, the Government had a duty to protect the islands against. In submissions to the court, Uncle Paul Kabai said the people of the Torres Strait were nothing without their island homes. 'We won't have our culture … if Sabai goes under water, we lose everything. Our culture, our identity, our livelihood. It will all be gone,' he said. Uncle Pabai Pabai echoed this sentiment in his own submission. 'If Boigu was gone, or I had to leave it because it was under water, I will be nothing. I will have nothing … I will become nobody.' Handing down his judgement on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Michael Andrew Wigney said he accepted 'many of the factual allegations' upon which the case was based. 'I've accepted the scientific evidence … concerning the devastating impacts that human-induced climate change has had, and continues to have, on the Torres Strait Islands and on the traditional inhabitants … their culture and way of life,' Justice Wigney said. 'Severe erosion, the salination of wetlands and previously arable land, the degradation of fragile ecosystems … has become more frequent and more severe in recent times,' he said. 'There is a very real risk that the worst fears of the applicants will be realised.' Despite his sympathy towards the plight of the Torres Strait Islands and their people, Justice Wigney ultimately ruled in favour of the Commonwealth, bringing the four-year journey of Uncles Kabai and Pabai to a muted conclusion. He found the Commonwealth 'did not, and does not owe Torres Strait Islanders the duty of care alleged by the applicants'. 'The reasonableness of decisions of this nature are … to be decided through political processes, not by judges.' In his closing remarks, Justice Wigney said his judgement, though not in favour of the applicants, was 'not intended to be a criticism of the applicants or their case or their legal advisers'. 'The reality is that the law in Australia, as it currently stands, provides no real or effective legal avenue through which individuals and communities … can claim damages or other relief,' he said. 'That will remain the case unless, and until, the law in Australia changes … until then, the only real avenue available to those in the position of the applicants … involves public advocacy and protest.' Energy Minister Chris Bowen said people in the Torres Strait were 'already feeeling the impacts' of climate change. He added the government was in the final stages of a plan which would 'help all communities understand climate risk and build a more resilient country for all Australians'.
ABC News
a day ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Court finds no duty of care owed to Torres Strait Islanders over climate change
The Federal Court has found the Commonwealth does not owe a duty of care to Torres Strait Islander peoples to protect them from the impacts of climate change or fund adaptation measures. Judge Michael Wigney ruled Australia's greenhouse gas emissions targets are matters of "core government policy" which should be decided by the parliament, not the courts. "My heart is broken for my families and my community," Guda Maluyligal traditional owner Uncle Pabai Pabai said after the decision was handed down. The judge also rejected the Torres Strait Islanders' claims that their cultural loss should be compensated under negligence law. Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai — from the islands of Saibai and Boigu — brought the case and travelled almost 900 kilometres from their ancestral homes to the Federal Court in Cairns to hear the outcome. Despite the finding, the judge also said the Uncles had proven many of the factual elements of their case, including that Australia's emissions targets between 2015 and 2021 were not consistent with the best available science to hold global temperatures to 1.5 degrees. He found the Commonwealth "did not engage with or give real or genuine consideration to the best available science" when setting those targets. The judge said the Torres Strait Islander peoples' case did not fail because there was no merit in their allegations, but rather because negligence law does not allow compensation for matters of government policy. Supporters wearing colourful dresses gathered in a separate room in the courthouse to watch the judgement, singing songs from their homeland, and waving Torres Strait Islander flags. Judge Wigney acknowledged the Torres Strait Islands "have in recent years been ravaged by the impacts of human-induced climate change … rising sea levels, storm surges and other extreme water level events". "The Torres Strait Islands and their inhabitants are, however, undoubtedly far more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than other communities in Australia," he said. "There could be little, if any, doubt that the Torres Strait Islands and their traditional inhabitants will face a bleak future if urgent action is not taken to address climate change and its impacts." This is the first time an Australian court has ruled on whether the Commonwealth has a legal duty of care to protect their citizens from the impacts of climate change, and whether cultural loss from climate change should be compensated. The landmark litigation has been financed through the NGO the Grata Fund, and modelled on a successful case from the Netherlands. As part of the case the Federal Court visited the islands of Boigu and Saibai, about 6 kilometres from the shores of Papua New Guinea, and Badu. Evidence of coastal erosion, destruction of ancestral graves and soil salinity that prevents crops from growing was presented to the court. It also heard of extreme weather events, including storms that cause intense flooding and inundate the islands, which lie at just 1.6 metres above sea level. The court heard sea levels in the Torres Strait were rising at double the rate of the rest of the world and that inaction on climate change may cause irreversible impacts for First Nations people in the Torres Strait. The plantiffs' legal team argued the Guda Maluyligal people risked losing their culture if rising sea levels, caused by climate change, forced them to leave their homes. The court heard breaching the 1.5 degrees global emissions limit would cause irreversible damage to small and low-lying islands, including those in the Torres Strait. Judge Wigney said today's findings "should not be construed as somehow sanctioning or justifying being the unquestionably modest and unambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets that were set by the Commonwealth in 2015, 2020 and 2021". "Unless something is done to arrest global warming and the resulting escalating impacts of climate change, there is a very real risk that the applicant's worst fears will be realised and they will lose their islands, their culture and their way of life, and will become, as it were, climate refugees," he said. This is not the first time Torres Strait Islanders have taken the federal government to court over their long connection to Country. The decade-long Mabo case led by Meriam man Eddie Koiki Mabo dispelled the legal notion of terra nullius — land belonging to no-one and recognised the land of his people. It also led to the development of the Native Title Act.
