Clive Palmer’s Queensland coalmine will harm future generations, court finds in landmark climate ruling

Murrawah Johnson, Serena Thompson and Monique Jeffs from Youth Verdict, who challenged Clive Palmer’s proposed Galilee coal project. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

A Queensland court has found the plans of a company owned by Clive Palmer to dig Australia’s largest thermal coalmine in central Queensland infringe upon the human rights of future generations, in landmark climate case.

The Queensland land court’s president, Fleur Kingham, said the case was not about whether any new coalmine should be approved, but “whether this coalmine should be approved on its merits”.