Funding Review Ordered for Environmental Activist Group After Criticism from Judge

Federal funding for the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) is under review following adverse findings by a judge, who said it was clear the group had coached Indigenous witnesses and confected evidence. The organisation is budgeted to receive $8.2 million (US$5.4 million) over four years. The Office—a community law centre funded by grants and occasionally fees charged to the people it represents—describes itself as “the largest environmental legal centre in the Australia-Pacific … running groundbreaking litigation and leading law reform advocacy.” It represented a group of Tiwi Islanders in a challenge against energy company Santos and its plan to build a 263-kilometre (163-mile) pipeline as part of its Barossa Gas project off the Northern Territory coast....