A court among the coconut palms: when justice came to visit the Torres Strait
The world’s first climate change class action has seen Australia’s federal court head north to hear arguments on the frontline
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It’s a steamy, overcast morning and the air is thick with heat. I’m at the northernmost inhabited point of Australia, on the low-lying Boigu Island in the Torres Strait, only a short boat ride to Papua New Guinea. It’s a beautiful sandy mud and coral island threaded by freshwater river systems, surrounded by blue ocean, and filled with thick mangroves, dugongs, turtles and saltwater crocs. The crocs are coming inland more often these days, hungry and looking for dogs.
A fleet of small charter planes has just arrived at the island carrying more than 20 lawyers, court staff, and Justice Michael Wigney of the federal court of Australia. Kids have run down from the local primary school next to the single-runway airstrip to welcome the visitors, waving and clapping with excitement. The outsiders are here to be participants of history in the making. Guda Maluyligal traditional owners Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai, and their communities on Boigu and Saibai islands, have launched a world-first climate change class action. They are suing the Australian government for climate negligence in the Torres Strait – the first First Nations people in the world to sue their government in this way.
Law (Australia) | The Guardian
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