NSW Council for Civil Liberties joins the chorus of voices to pay our great respect to the Honourable Paul Stein AM KC who passed away on Saturday, 22 June 2024. 

Paul Stein was a longstanding and active contributor to NSWCCL over many decades. His contribution was enormous and will be sadly missed. As an environmental law expert, Mr Stein was a passionate environmentalist who held governments, corporations and lobbyists to account.

Paul Stein was appointed a judge of the District Court in 1981, serving until he was appointed to the Land and Environment Court on 3 June 1985. He served with distinction as a judge of the Land and Environment Court until 7 April 1997, when he was appointed as a judge to the Court of Appeal. Paul Stein served as a judge of appeal until April 2003. Paul Stein served afterwards in many roles, including as a chair of various planning panels established under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW).

Paul Stein has made a significant contribution to planning and environmental law over many decades. Amongst many significant decisions he made as a judge, his pioneering decision on the precautionary principle in Leatch v National Parks and Wildlife Service and Shoalhaven City Council (1993) 81 LGERA 270 stands out. It has acquired the status of being the seminal case on the precautionary principle, one of the principles of ecologically sustainable development (“ESD”). It has been referred to extensively in decisions of courts in New South Wales, but also in other States of Australia and in the Federal Court of Australia and overseas, including the United Kingdom and New Zealand. 

Second, his important decisions on assessing harm to threatened fauna by logging in native forests in Corkill v Forestry Commission of NSW (1991) 73 LGRA 126 and Corkill v Hope (1991) 74 LGRA 33. The people of NSW and the members of NSWCCL are in his debt for his service to the law, and planning and environmental law in particular.