Following the 2016 legislative amendments establishing the associated water licence regime under the Water Act 2000, the Land Court's jurisdiction to consider groundwater impacts in mining lease hearings under the MRA and EPA is limited; the potential impacts of mining on underground water are to be assessed and managed under the Water Act regime. Intergenerational equity under the EPA is one factor in a balancing exercise and cannot be treated as a stand-alone requirement whose breach alone warrants refusal. Where the Land Court prefers environmental conditions different from the Coordinator-General's stated conditions, it must exercise its discretionary power under s 190 EPA rather than treating the inconsistency as compelling refusal.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 11 later cases that cite this judgment.