{"id":656644,"date":"2026-05-08T00:52:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/656644\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T00:52:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:52:39","slug":"magnetic-south-land-clearing-found-not-to-have-breached-national-environmental-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/656644\/","title":{"rendered":"Magnetic South land clearing found not to have breached national environmental law"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government has found that a central Queensland coal mine accused of illegally clearing vegetation did not breach national environmental laws.<\/p>\n

Last year the Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) released drone footage<\/a> showing about 200 hectares of land that had been cleared at the site of a proposed coal mine near the town of Dingo, 120 kilometres west of Rockhampton.<\/p>\n

Mining company Magnetic South said its Gemini Coal project would have a 25-year life span mining up to 1.9 million tonnes of coal a year.<\/p>\n

In July 2025, the QCC alleged the land clearing activities occurred without a required environment protection and biodiversity conservation (EPBC) referral.<\/p>\n

Under the EPBC Act, any activity that has, or is likely to have, a significant impact on nationally protected matters needs a referral.<\/p>\n

This includes the greater glider, bridled nail-tail wallaby and koalas that are threatened species which may be present in the local area<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, a spokesperson for Magnetic South told the ABC that all its activities had been done lawfully.<\/p>\n

Now, an investigation conducted by the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) has found no breaches of national laws.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The area is likely to contain important habitat for the bridled nail-tail wallaby. (Supplied: Queensland government)<\/p>\n

In response the QCC deferred to the Lock the Gate Alliance’s central Queensland coordinator, Claire Gronow, for comment. Dr Gronow said the outcome was disappointing.<\/p>\n

“It’s just really concerning to us that the EPBC Act doesn’t provide stronger mechanisms to protect habitat for our list of threatened species and also for water resources,” the environmental scientist said.<\/p>\n

Ghungalu woman Zhanae Dodd, who held ceremonies on the site with traditional owners last year in response to the land clearing activity, said the group would continue to raise concerns through “every avenue available” to them.<\/p>\n

“We know that land was cleared. We were there on the ground. We could hear the trees falling,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We know that it has real impacts on our people, and those impacts aren’t recognised in current legal frameworks.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Zhanae Dodd says she will continue to raise concerns about the project. (Supplied: Zhanae Dodd)<\/p>\n

Why it was not a breach<\/p>\n

The mine was found not to have breached any laws as the clearing was within the guidelines of a “Not a Controlled Action (NCA) if undertaken in a Particular Manner (PM)” decision.<\/p>\n

Under the EPBC Act, an NCA-PM decision<\/a> means the specific way the proposed activity is undertaken is unlikely to have significant impact on protected species.<\/p>\n

The Gemini project received the NCA-PM determination after it was first assessed by the department in 2010, when it was owned by Dingo West Coal Pty Ltd.<\/p>\n

It was bought by Cockatoo Coal in 2013 and then Magnetic South in 2015.<\/p>\n

Though the project has changed owners, the NCA-PM was still valid, as a DCCEEW spokesperson confirmed the approval was not tied to the original owner but rather the action, in this case the development of a mine.<\/p>\n

But Lock the Gate Alliance has questioned whether an old NCA-PM can be active years later and transferred between multiple companies.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very old approval document [from 2011],” Dr Gronow said.<\/p>\n

“There’s lots of questions around whether that was still valid or not.”<\/p>\n

\"Further<\/p>\n

The DCCEEW found Magnetic South did not beach national environmental laws. (Supplied: Queensland Conservation Council)<\/p>\n

Documents show mine told to seek new approval<\/p>\n

Despite the finding, publicly available documents released under the Freedom of Information Act showed correspondence from the DCCEEW to Magnetic South’s legal team, advising the company it should seek fresh approvals.<\/p>\n

In one of the documents, an email from the department to Magnetic South’s lawyers stated: “There is no mechanism under the EPBC Act to transfer an NCA-PM decision from an old project owner to the new project owner.”<\/p>\n

It further stated, “an NCA-PM decision is only valid for the original proponent”.<\/p>\n

“A historic NCA-PM decision is not a guarantee the same or similar action would be considered an NCA-PM again, if such a decision were being made today,” the email read.<\/p>\n

When questioned about the documents, the DCCEEW declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Dr Gronow said she had questions as to why “despite advice from senior officials” previously, the 2025 land clearing was found not to be a breach.<\/p>\n

“We do hope in future that we’ll see these grey areas disappear and some stronger requirements,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Gronow said while there was little information on how the process would work once the laws went through expected reforms<\/a>, she hoped “better protections” would be put in place for areas with threatened species.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

Magnetic South has said the project is unlikely to impact vulnerable species. (Supplied: Department of Environment and Science)<\/p>\n

Magnetic South declined to comment on the finding.<\/p>\n

Any future expansion of the project, in the northern portion of the site, will need a separate approval under the EPBC Act.<\/p>\n

On its website, the company said with the mining lease granted and the project’s environmental authority and rehabilitation bond lodged with the state government for the first stage of the project, construction could now begin.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

The Gemini project will be easily visible from this lookout at Blackdown Tablelands National Park. (ABC Capricornia: Inga St\u00fcnzner)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government has found that a central Queensland coal mine accused of illegally clearing vegetation did not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,52165,102741,12334,146800,75,129831,15854,317525,317527,317528,182374,213855,6827,317526,78871,128],"class_list":["post-656644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-central-queensland","tag-coal-mine","tag-coal-mining","tag-dcceew","tag-environment","tag-environmental-laws","tag-epbc","tag-epbc-laws","tag-gemini-coal-mine","tag-ghungalu","tag-land-clearing","tag-magnetic-south","tag-mining","tag-new-environmental-laws","tag-queensland-conservation-council","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}