Marjanac, S. (2016, July 08). Coal mine judgment shows Australia’s environment laws are flawed | Climate Home – climate change news. Retrieved November 19, 2016, from http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/09/07/coal-mine-judgment-shows-australias-environment-laws-are-flawed/

In a recent hearing the Australian federal court ruled in favor of mining coal from the Queensland’s Galilee Basin. This ruling shows how weak the environmental regulations in Australia. The proposed mine is estimated to put out 4.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide. This is the same as the entire emissions of France in 2014. The commonwealth environment minister claims that there is no way to have estimated the levels of emission that this mine will output.

The commonwealth environment minister seems rather forum or just stupid for claiming that a coal mine would have low impacts on the environment. In my opinion this give more opportunity to companies to exploit Australia and avoid any environmental regulation. If Australia does not change this than the Great Barrier Reef will continue to bleach and the multi-million dollar tourist industry will continue to decline.