Protect Environment Hold Decisionmaker Accountable

A small Victorian community is standing up for an issue that could matter far beyond its local boundaries.

Clonbinane, Victoria 3658, is a small rural community approximately 15 kilometres north of Wallan, surrounded by native bushland, waterways and wildlife.

Our community is now taking legal action against the Department of Environment (DEECA) in response to the approval of a major underground exploration project proposed by Southern Cross Gold (SXG).

This is not simply about one project or one small community.

It is about Victoria’s environment, our waterways, threatened and endangered species, responsible decision-making and the right of communities to have important environmental concerns properly heard.

What happens in Clonbinane does not necessarily stay in Clonbinane.

The proposed project is located within the Sunday Creek catchment.

Sunday Creek flows through Clonbinane, Waterford Park and Broadford before joining the Goulburn River downstream of Seymour and into the Murray River. Water Pollution would affect Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

The Sunday Creek water supply system provides water to communities including Broadford, Clonbinane, Kilmore, Wandong, Heathcote Junction and Waterford Park.

This means the potential environmental consequences of what happens in the Clonbinane area are not simply a local issue.

Our waterways do not stop at property boundaries.

Water connects communities, ecosystems and the environment downstream.

That is why we believe this issue deserves attention beyond Clonbinane.

Threatened and endangered species are part of this environment.

Threatened and endangered species have been identified in the area, and the community is deeply concerned about the potential impacts of the proposed works on wildlife, native habitat, waterways and groundwater.

Once damage to animal habitats occur, some consequences may be difficult — or impossible — to reverse.

Bush Fire Risks

Clonbinane was devastated by the 2009, Black Saturday bush fires. The community is extremely concerned that the mineral resources development might cause a similar event and devastate ecosystems, threatened species and communities throughout the region.

We believe these concerns deserve proper and independent scrutiny.

The project has been approved — but the questions remain.

Resources Victoria approved the work plan for the underground exploration tunnel on 26 November 2025.

But approval does not mean that every question has been answered.

The Clonbinane community continues to have serious concerns about the potential environmental impacts of the project, whether the Departments approval was based on correct information and whether risks and hazards have been considered and the existing regulatory framework provides adequate protection for our ecosystems and waterways.

We believe there are important legal and environmental questions that deserve to be independently examined.

That is why our community has commenced legal proceedings in the Victorian Supreme Court.

We are not asking people to simply take our word for it.

We are asking for the opportunity to have these important questions properly examined.

When a major project is proposed in an area containing threatened species and connected waterways, and major forested areas the community should be able to ask:

Have the environmental risks been properly assessed?

Are threatened and endangered species adequately protected?

Are our waterways and groundwater adequately protected?

Has the correct legal and regulatory process been followed?

And do ordinary members of the public have a right to be heard and a meaningful opportunity to challenge decisions that may have lasting environmental consequences?

We believe these are legitimate questions that deserve to be heard.

But standing up comes at a significant cost.

After already spending over $100,000, the Clonbinane community is now facing a $50,000 security-for-costs requirement in connection with the legal proceedings. Against the community's evidence, the judge has decided that the questions above are not sufficiently in the public interest and has ordered that the Community pays a security "bond" to the benefit of the "mining company".

For a small rural community, $50,000 is an enormous amount of money.

It creates a further significant financial barrier to continuing the proceedings and having these important issues heard.

We are ordinary Australians that request a right to be heard, when our natural environment and communities are put at severe risk.

We do not have the financial resources of a large "mining company" and have already spent our savings on the proceedings.

Yet we are trying to do something that we believe is important not only for Clonbinane, but for the protection of Victoria's environment and people and the principle that communities should be able to seek independent scrutiny of decisions affecting them.

We need your support.

We are asking people across Victoria and Australia who care about:

Protecting Victoria’s environment

Protecting our waterways

Protecting our loved ones and properties from fire danger

Protecting threatened and endangered species

Accountability in government decision-making

Transparency and proper environmental scrutiny

Giving communities a meaningful voice to stand with us.

Your donation will help the Clonbinane community meet the costs of continuing these legal proceedings, including the $50,000 security requirement and associated legal and court expenses

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This is not about stopping development simply because we oppose it.

It is about asking whether the project has been properly assessed so that ecosystems and communities are protected

It is about asking whether the law has been properly followed.

It is about ensuring that environmental concerns are taken seriously.

It is about protecting waterways that connect communities.

It is about preventing devastating future bush fires.

And it is about ensuring that ordinary people have a fair opportunity to ask a court to independently examine important decisions that may have consequences well beyond the immediate project site.

This is bigger than Clonbinane.

Clonbinane may be a small community, but the issues we are raising are not small.

Mining projects have shown destructive consequences throughout Australia, when laws are not followed or enforced.

They concern Victoria’s environment, our waterways, threatened species and the accountability of decisions that may have lasting consequences.

Our waterways connect us.

Our environment connects us.

The protection of threatened species is a responsibility that extends beyond one community

What happens upstream matters downstream.

Please help us continue this fight.

Every donation — large or small — can make a difference.

$5. $10. $50. $100. Every contribution helps.

If you cannot donate, please help us by sharing this campaign with your friends, family, community groups and networks.

The more people who understand what is happening, the stronger our voice becomes.

Help Us Protect Victoria’s Environment and Hold Decisions Accountable.

Stand with Clonbinane.

Stand for our waterways.

Stand for threatened wildlife.

Stand for environmental accountability.