Macquarie Law School's 2023 Blackshield Lecture: 
The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: its nature, content and realisation 

You are also invited to attend Macquarie Law School’s 2023 Blackshield Lecture at the conclusion of the CEL conference on 2 November 2023. This year the lecture will be presented by The Hon. Justice Dr. Brian J Preston FRSN SC FAAL, Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, on ‘The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: its nature, content and realisation’.  

The Blackshield Lecture is an annual Macquarie Law School event, named in honour of Emeritus Professor Tony Blackshield AO, who will be a distinguished guest on the night. It provides an opportunity for Australia’s most prominent legal experts to share their ideas on issues of contemporary significance.  

The Lecture and Q&A session is available for in-person attendance only and will be held from 6.30pm - 7.30pm and light refreshments will be served from 5.30pm. Places are limited, so please RSVP as soon as registrations open to secure your seat.

Registrations will open shortly for this separate event. However, if you plan to attend the Conference, please make sure you register for the Conference under the registration tab and sign up for the Blackshield Lecture there. If you plan to attend only the Blackshield Lecture, please register on this page when registrations opens.

Abstract

The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is increasingly being adopted internationally and nationally in constitutions and statutes throughout the world. Whilst the importance of the right is being recognised, what the right entails and how it is to be realized is less understood. This lecture aims to improve understanding of the nature, content and realization of the right. As to the nature of the right, how is the right to be categorised? The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is in fact a cluster of rights. These include civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; and rights of their own kind. The cluster of rights includes positive rights and negative rights. As to the content of the right, what are the essential features of the right? I suggest that there are at least three components to the right: a substantive, procedural and intertemporal component. A right, however, is meaningless without a correlative duty to respect, protect and fulfil the right. What is the nature of this tripartite duty? The content of the duty includes specific obligations for the progressive realization of the right; core obligations of an immediate nature to ensure the enjoyment and protection of the right; and obligations to use maximum available resources for progressive realization of the right. By addressing these questions, this lecture will elucidate the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable right and how it can be realized. 

Speaker's Bio

The Hon. Justice Dr. Brian J Preston FRSN SC FAAL, Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales.

Prior to being appointed in November 2005, Justice Preston was a senior counsel practising primarily in New South Wales in environmental, planning, administrative and property law. He has lectured in post-graduate environmental law for over 30 years and is the author of Australia’s first book on environmental litigation,  over 150 articles, book chapters and reviews on environmental law, administrative and criminal law. Justice Preston holds numerous editorial positions in environmental law publications and has been involved in a number of international environmental consultancies and capacity-building programs, including for judiciaries throughout Asia, Africa and the European Union.