We are the Environmental Defenders Office of Northern Queensland (EDO NQ) – a non-profit, non-government charitable community legal centre specialising in public interest environmental law. EDO NQ is the only independent Northern Queensland member of the Australian Network of EDOs (ANEDO), which actively works together to protect and conserve the national environment in the public interest. The EDO NQ is an independent incorporated association run by a Management Committee of dedicated volunteers. On this website you can also learn more about our dedicated staff and volunteers.
Since 1996, EDO NQ has provided assistance to those in the Northern Queensland community who are working to protect the environment. EDO NQ does this through providing legal advice and case work assistance, providing community legal education (through the Community Litigants Handbook, Factsheets, Bulletins and Newsletters, Alerts, Facebook and community legal education seminars and workshops) and engaging with all tiers of Australian government in law reform and legal policy review projects and consultations.
For 18 years community groups and members of the public have made use of our Community Legal Centre’s free or low-cost environmental law legal service. As well as making submissions on over 300 law reform and policy changes and presenting 200 legal education projects, EDO NQ has assisted over 1,300 clients with 9,000 information advices; 4,170 legal advices and nearly 600 cases. This service assists conservation groups, members of the public and landholders to protect the places they love, their health, and the wider natural environment.
EDO NQ is centrally located in the Great Barrier Reef, and is adjacent to threatened Cape York, Northern Queensland, Australia. EDO NQ services the area from (and including) Sarina (south of Mackay) north to the Torres Strait and the border with Papua New Guinea, and across the breadth of Queensland (here is a map of our service area). This huge area is several times the size of Victoria and contains three World Heritage Areas; including the legendary Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics. The area is home to a vast range of ecosystems, including rainforest, reef, savannah, wetlands, woodlands and semi-arid areas. We cover all or a substantial part of seven Natural Resource Management Groups. If you have a public interest environmental law issue you need help with or would like to discuss but are outside EDO NQ’s service area, do not worry; just go to ANEDO’s website and find out how to contact the EDO which covers the area where you live.
Until December 2013, EDO NQ was supported by the Commonwealth Government. In December 2013 the Federal Government announced the cancellation of all funding for EDO NQ, without warning, after 18 years. This was on top of the cancellation of our State funding by the newly elected Queensland LNP government in July 2012. We now depend upon the generosity of individuals, businesses and philanthropic organisations who have an interest in environmental protection and access to social justice in order to continue to provide a free environmental law service for the community of Northern Queensland. We encourage anyone interested in the work of EDO NQ to join us and become an Environmental Defender. Our members gain a greater understanding of environmental laws while helping to influence and positively contribute to the future of Queensland’s environment and environmental protection and conservation law. Please feel free to contact us if you have a public interest environmental issue or wish to find out more about environmental and planning laws.