The federal government has approved some of Australia's most environmentally contentious projects without giving communities a chance to challenge their merits, legal experts say.
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Whitehaven Coal's Vickery Extension Project, for example, will create roughly 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases once it gets underway, according to NSW Independent Planning Commission estimates.
Sally Hunter, a farmer from Boggabri in northeast NSW, some 30km from the site, had campaigned against the project amid concerns about its impact on the Namoi River and climate change more broadly.
But the mine extension, which was the subject of a legal challenge by a group of teenagers, was approved in 2021 by then-Liberal environment minister Sussan Ley and the community could not appeal the merits of the decision.
"It's still galling," Ms Hunter told AAP.
"We thought - being taxpayers - the government acts in your interest ... but it certainly doesn't feel that way with these big developments."
History could repeat itself as Whitehaven Coal attempts to get approval for the expansion of the Narrabri Underground Coal Mine, 50km from the Vickery Extension Project.
According to environmental group Lock the Gate Alliance, the stage three expansion is expected to reduce base flow to the Namoi River by 200 million litres per year and produce 479 million tonnes of carbon emissions - more than three times NSW's annual emissions.
It has already been approved at the state level and is expected to clear federal government approvals, leaving Ms Hunter and other locals in a similar position to three years ago.
As the federal government prepares to make changes to Australia's main environmental legislation, an independent report commissioned by Lock the Gate Alliance recommends governments expand merits review rights in the act.
Merits reviews allow independent tribunals to reconsider facts, law and policy aspects of a decision and determine the best choice moving forward.
Merits reviews rights are already applied to most state-level environmental decisions but can only be used in an extremely limited number of situations under federal environmental law.
The report authors - University of Canberra professor Kim Rubenstein and Monash University associate professor Joel Townsend - say expanding merits appeal rights would legally enshrine the ability of communities to challenge the merits of large, destructive projects.
This would improve the quality and integrity of decision-making and give the public access to justice.
The proposal has the backing of federal independent MP Kylea Tink, who says Australians have already waited too long for the expansion of these rights.
"With so much talk about a commitment to doing politics differently, this is an opportunity for the federal government to strengthen integrity protections by providing these rights in national environment laws," she said.
Australian Associated Press
