Longley v Chief Executive, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection; Longley v Chief Executive, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection

The case involved two appeals against decisions made by the Queensland Land Court. The appellants, two liquidators of Linc Energy Limited, challenged the court’s orders that they compel the company to comply with an environmental protection order. The respondents were the Chief Executive of the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection and the Chief Executive of the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, who had issued the environmental protection order. The legal issues centred around the effect of a disclaimer of onerous property by the liquidators under section 568 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) on the company's liability to comply with the environmental protection order, and whether there was an inconsistency between the Corporations Act and the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) that needed to be resolved under section 109 of the Constitution.

The court found that the disclaimer of property by the liquidators under section 568 of the Corporations Act did not terminate the company’s liability to comply with the environmental protection order. The court held that the liability to comply with the order was not a liability in respect of property that the liquidators had disclaimed, and thus, the disclaimer did not affect the company’s obligation to comply with the order. Additionally, the court concluded that section 5G of the Corporations Act did not operate to avoid any inconsistency with the Environmental Protection Act, meaning that the provisions of the Corporations Act did not override the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act in this context.

The appeals were allowed, and the orders from the Queensland Land Court were set aside. The liquidators were directed that they were justified in not compelling the company to comply with the environmental protection order to the extent that it required actions after 30 June 2016. Furthermore, the Chief Executive of the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection was ordered to bear his own costs of the proceedings.