An Indigenous-led challenge to federal environment minister Sussan Ley's decision to not protect culturally significant sites at a NSW coal mining site near Gunnedah has been dismissed by the Federal Court.
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Gomeroi woman Dolly Talbott had argued Ms Ley made a legal error when deciding the potential economic and social benefits of the Shenhua Watermark open cut coal mine on the Liverpool Plains, near Breeza, outweighed the heritage value of the significant Aboriginal sites.
Justice Wendy Abraham dismissed the application on Wednesday morning and ordered Ms Talbott pay up to $1000 of the government's legal costs.
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The Environment Defenders Office, which backed Ms Talbott's challenge, said the sites in the footprint of the mine include sacred places, significant ceremonial corridors and scarred trees irreplaceable to the Gomeroi people.
Australian Associated Press
