Farmers denied costs
THE Land Court has denied Oakey farmers the right to extract legal cost from New Acland Coal arising from two hearings in the parties’ long running battle over the New Acland Coal Mine.
The application for costs relates to a 2017 reopening of the Oakey Coal Action Alliance objection to the Stage Three expansion and a 2018 remitting hearing.
The OCAA wanted NCA to pay the costs to examine new evidence after NCA introduced new data about the effects the expansion would have on groundwater in the 2017 matter.
Ultimately, the Land Court ruled that the issue of groundwater should be decided via a separate hearing.
This led to OCAA arguing that the cost to examine the new evidence was wasted.
In 2018, the matter was remitted back to the Land Court to be heard in a limited capacity, and both parties appealed this decision, incurring considerable cost in the process of arguing against each other’s appeal.
Three years later, the High Court intervened in OCAA’s favour and set aside the remittal hearing.
Regarding both matters, the OCAA argued its costs were wasted and cited legal precedent that costs should be ordered.
On Tuesday, Land Court Member Peta Stilgoe dismissed the arguments, saying that a mining objection hearing was different from a civil matter in that the court was fulfilling an administrative function, not a judicial one.
Ms Stilgoe said awarding costs to OCAA would set a dangerous precedent for a court that regularly dealt with David and Goliath cases between community groups and large companies.
“I do not accept that the relative disparity between the parties justifies an order for costs without some other factor present,” she said.
“There is no basis for an argument that David should have his costs purely because he is David.”