To improve comparison with the Campbell Newman administration, the Liberal KMT government in Queensland will cut funding for all states for the Environmental Sanitation Office (EDO).

The decision violates the LNP's promise to continue funding the body before the October state election wins the government.

Edo considers challenging residents and community groups to provide free legal advice and receive about $500,000 per year from the state government. The state budget cuts its funds to zero in June.

In an open letter to the prime minister, 36 conservationists and environmental groups in the state were seen as “shocked” by their decision.

They compared it to a similar decision made by Prime Minister Campbell Newman and cut $97,000 in Edo funds in 2012, which is the entire state allocation. Current Secretary of Environment Andrew Powell is also Newman's Secretary of Environment.

Edo’s cuts represent one of several broken election commitments by David Crisafulli’s administration in its first six months of office, including not building new stadiums for the Olympics and setting clear key performance indicators for his ministers.

The commitment to donations continued last March at the forum attended by LNP’s then shadow environment minister Sam O'Connor.

After the Guardian Australia event, O'Connor also mentioned that "if the LNP succeeds in the elections in October this year, I will continue to fund Edo's commitment".

“Queenslanders care about their local environment, so when potential threats to special locations they prefer, landowners and communities should receive some form of legal advice,” the email reads.

“We believe that state governments should continue to fund their operations just as they do with other community legal services.”

"Before the election, we were told that the LNP had learned lessons from the destructive approach of the Newman administration, but the cuts were funded directly from Campbell Newman's script," said Dave Copeman, director of the Queensland Nature Conservation Commission.

The Bronzebuster said that then-opposition leader Crisafulli made the same promise to him in August 2023.

Edo CEO David Morris said the organization will be able to keep the door open with charitable donations, but must keep many people out.

"In the past five years, Queensland government funds have enabled us to provide about 1,500 legal services to people who would otherwise not be able to afford legal advice," Morris said.

Without Edo legal advice, he said many Queenslanders would be denied the opportunity to exercise their legal rights to challenge “mining companies, large irrigators and real estate developers.”

“Without it, many communities don’t even know their rights, let alone have the opportunity to exercise them.”

National Resources Minister Dale told parliament for the last time: “I have been saying to the gas companies in this state: ‘I will sign it.

A spokesman for the state government said it “granted a funding agreement to Labor, which expired at the end of June 2025.”

“There is no additional funding budget beyond this time.

“As part of the future assessment of the plan, Edo will have to convince the government that after the judge criticized Edo lawyers for guiding witnesses, appropriate procedures have been put in place to obtain further funding after being ordered to pay $9 million in fees.”

Federal court ordered Edo to pay Santos in November 2024 after ruling on its challenge to the Northern Territory gas pipeline project.

Morris said at the time that Edo "worked to comply with the client's instructions" but accepted the court's judgment.