Robert White

Prior to moving to Australia in 2009, Robert practised as a barrister in England for over 10 years, where he specialised in environmental and town planning law. At the NSW Bar Robert practises in the fields of land and environment, mining law and compulsory acquisition.

Robert is an experienced environmental law barrister. He practises in all areas of the Land and Environment Court jurisdiction, including civil enforcement, land acquisition and compensation, land valuation, judicial review, class 5 prosecutions, climate change, class 1 merits appeals, local government and class 8 mining cases. He appears for developers, Council, and local community groups.

He has a particular specialism in proceedings involving large fossil fuel and renewable energy projects, including wind farms and solar farms and waste to energy projects in regional NSW. He is instructed by the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) as Counsel acting the Panel in public hearings into large mining projects. Robert acted for the community group in Gloucester Resources Ltd v Minister for Planning [2019] NSWLEC 7 (the Rocky Hill case), in which Preston CJ refused development for an open-cut mine in the Gloucester Valley on climate change grounds.

Robert appears in NSW, WA and NT in arbitrations and hearings under the Mining Act (NSW), and the WA and NT equivalent legislation, concerning mining projects, including critical minerals projects and coal seam gas projects and the question as to whether access agreements should be granted over land for minerals and gas exploration.

Robert is regularly instructed in matters concerning the interface between mining and coal seam gas projects and aboriginal rights and aboriginal cultural heritage. He advises and appears for Aboriginal people in remote Australia (and is instructed to attend meetings between mining companies and traditional owners) in disputes over mining projects, native title and land rights, including providing advice as to whether native title holders should enter into draft ILUAs under the Native Title Act (Cth).

He is also experienced in compulsory acquisition and land valuation law. Robert regularly appears in Class 3 of the Court’s jurisdiction, and in the Court of Appeal, in compensation and land valuation cases, for both dispossessed landowners, and on behalf of the acquiring authority and the Valuer General. Most recently, he has been instructed by government agencies in major cases involving the acquisition of land for the M12 and the Metro for the new Western Sydney Airport.

Robert is the Vice-President of EPLA, having joined the committee in 2019. He is a member of the NSW Bar Association’s Climate Change and Environmental Law Committee and teaches environmental law at the University of Sydney. He is listed in Doyle’s Guide as a leading Planning and Environment Law barrister (NSW).