Climate Change: No duty of care in Australia

Last year, in a victory for the climate movement, an Australian court ruled that ministers owe young people a duty of care over climate change. But today, that ruling was overturned by the Federal Court:

The Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley does not have a duty of care to protect young people from climate change harm when considering fossil fuel projects, such as mines, a court has ruled.

The ruling of the full bench of the Federal Court overturned an earlier decision that found in favour of eight teenagers who brought a class-action case that challenged a proposal by Whitehaven Coal to extend its Vickery coal mine, near Boggabri in NSW.

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“The court is unanimous in the view that the duty should not be imposed upon the Minister. The three judgments of the court have different emphases as to why this conclusion should be reached,” Chief Justice James Allsop said in his judgment on Tuesday.

Which immediately invites the question: if the government doesn't have a duty of care to the young, what exactly is it for? Unfortunately, in Australia the answer appears to be "protecting the profits of old, rich, fossil-fuel polluters".