NSW government's coal mine plan 'obliterates' legal process: former judge

A former Supreme Court Judge has slammed the NSW government's plan to draft special laws for a Hunter Valley coalmine, saying it "obliterates" the legal process and should be independently reviewed.

The premier has announced the government will legislate to allow the Mount Pleasant mine to continue operating at expanded production rates, despite a High Court ruling against it this month.

Criticism of the government's decision

"The idea that a substantial mining venture can approach the government and say look, let's go behind the court processes and sort this out between ourselves is a very dangerous precedent, and that's exactly what appears to have happened here," said Anthony Whealy, who is now on the board of the Centre for Public Integrity.

"They've effectively ignored what I would call respect for the rule of law by overriding it. It is, on the face of it, reprehensible".

Anthony Whealy says there is no evidence 400 jobs are under threat.

Investigation into coal production limits

The Hunter Valley mine is already being investigated over allegations it breached its coal production limits, as it scaled up construction during the court process.

In 2022, the mine was given approval to double its capacity, from 10.5 to 21 million tonnes of coal per year, until 2048.

But that approval was deemed invalid after a NSW Court of Appeal ruling in July 2025 that planning authorities had failed to consider the effect of overseas or Scope 3 emissions caused by the 406 million additional tonnes of coal exports over the life of the mine.

Government's response to the High Court ruling

Less than a fortnight after the High Court decision, NSW Premier Chris Minns announced new laws would be introduced to allow the mine to extract 16.5 million tonnes per year, the precise amount it had already scaled up to produce.

In his statement, the premier said the laws would "address the unique legal uncertainty arising from the High Court's judgement", and "protect 400 jobs" while the court process continued.

Retired Supreme Court Judge Anthony Whealy said the move had "obliterated" the legal process and appeared to be a "hollow" claim.

"All this talk about 400 jobs being lost before Christmas is hyperbole, and not at the moment justified by any evidence that the government has produced," he said.

Reaction from the community group

Tony Lonergan, a co-founder of the DAMSHEG residents group fighting the mine, said the NSW government was working "hand-in-glove" with its "gung-ho" operators.

"[They're] pretty certain that planning and the government is going to back them," he said. "And they think that they can just keep doing what they're doing."