The Federal Court has ruled that former Environment Minister Sussan Ley’s unlawful decision is to be set aside and the new Minister for Environment and Water is to make a new decision in Bob Brown Foundation’s landmark case.

Work on the project has now been halted, with all machinery to be removed on Monday, 1 August 2022.

Federal Court judge Justice Moshinsky has handed down his final orders today with costs yet to be determined by the court. Federal Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek has been ordered to start again in assessing Chinese state-owned mining company MMG’s proposed heavy metals tailings waste dump in takayna / Tarkine.

“It is time for Minister Plibersek to clear the deck after the failure of Sussan Ley who made an unlawful decision for the environment. Australians across the nation are counting on Minister Plibersek to protect this ancient rainforest, the resident breeding Tasmanian Masked Owls and all of its threatened wildlife and ecological communities,” Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaigns Manager Jenny Weber said.

“This proposed tailings waste dump will cause irreversible harm to the environment. It must be halted and MMG needs to choose their feasible alternative on their mine site outside takayna / Tarkine,” Jenny Weber said.

“MMG’s machinery should never have been there and now the company will remove them. Our campaigners will be there on Monday to supervise. The ancient rainforests will be left to the Tasmanian Masked Owls and all the other rare and endangered species that depend on this place being left intact. It’s now over to Minister Plibersek to halt the heavy metals tailings dam in takayna,” Jenny Weber said.

“There is now a critical precedent in law that will extend across Australia to its threatened wildlife and environment. The court has affirmed that the precautionary principle in our national environment law is mandatory,” Jenny Weber said.

“This momentous win is thanks to the thousands of environmental citizen heroes who protested in these forests for the past 20 months and who stood firm when the minister and government failed them and the law,” Jenny Weber said.

We have invited Minister Plibersek to see takayna / Tarkine herself before her decision is made.