Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) CEO David Morris says the centre will rely on donations to maintain its level of service after a State Government decision to cut funding.
The community legal centre receives about $500,000 a year, which it uses to employ two solicitors who provide free legal advice in Cairns and Brisbane. This funding will be cut from 1 July.
David said more than 50,000 Queenslanders had received free legal advice, representation, and education from EDO in the past 35 years.
“This critical funding helps us deliver these vital legal services and our specialist expertise has helped many people intervene early to prevent bad decisions, improve the law, or reduce the impact of destructive development,” he said.
The Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) today issued an open letter from 36 of the state’s environmental and conservation groups calling for the funding to be reinstated.
The letter stated that in March last year then Shadow Environment Minister Sam O’Connor told a QCC forum that the party would continue funding the EDO if it won government.
Yesterday, a spokesperson for the State Government said it had “honoured Labor’s funding agreement in its entirety which expired at the end of June 2025”.
“There is no additional money budgeted beyond that period of time,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
One Response
The EDO and QCC would have far more credibility if they cast their net more broadly as they give the impression, they only seek to frustrate miners and farmers. You won’t see them acting or supporting action where there is environmental vandalism in the name of so called ‘green’ energy projects.