Class action on behalf of world's children could delay Whitehaven's Vickery Extension project near Gunnedah

Whitehaven Coal's Vickery Extension Project would double the size of an approved coal mine and won approval by the state Independent Planning Commission in August.

It is now before the Commonwealth Environment Minister, but an injunction was filed against it in the Federal Court on Tuesday.

Principal Lawyer David Barnden said the lawsuit would aim to prevent the Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley from approving the mine.

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They intend to argue doing so would violate her common law duty of care to young people around the world.

"There's no denying that there is harm today from climate change," he said.

"This case looks at the contribution of the coal that will ultimately be burnt from the Vickery Extension Project to climate change in the future. And it looks to future harm that that in turn will cause the applicants and the group members resulting from its contribution to climate change."

Mr Barnden estimated it could take as long as six months for the claim to be properly heard in the Federal Court.

He is suing on behalf of a group of eight Australian children, a "class" that is claimed to represent every person in the world under the age of 18 born up to September 8, 2020.

Member for New England Barnaby Joyce said the lawsuit is just "lawfare".

"It's precisely lawfare. It is a case taken by people who are not going to lose their job, not going to be affected really, by the actions," he said.

"And they don't have to live the consequences of their actions in the current term. They will argue in the longer term they do."

Asked if it wasn't the Commonwealth Government's responsibility to develop an energy policy that achieves both economic growth and the emissions reduction necessary to prevent climate change, he said "good luck with that idea."

"If you want to be poor this is the way to go about it. When people talk about the almighty government that's going to fix everything, the almighty government is borrowing money hand over fist from overseas which you have to repay. Worrying about global warming will be the least of your concerns when the Chinese say how about you pay back the money you owe us."

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He said people needed to accept the "trade off" that fewer coal exports would mean a lower quality of public services.

"You have this ridiculous situation where they say no I'm not willing to give up anything, but I want you to do it on less money," he said.

"You are a child. It's why you should be taking this case as a student because you're actually a child."

Mr Barnden said if successful the case could set a legal precedent to force the Commonwealth not to approve future resource projects like the Narrabri Gas Project.

"The students are really aware what's going on," he said.

"They understand that climate change is only getting worse, it causes them anxiety. And they're doing a lot to try and fix their future. For us to be involved and to be able to represent them is a real privilege.

"We're behind them all the way in this case and we're playing to win."

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