23-year-old sues Australia for not disclosing climate change risk in bonds

Kathleen O'Donnell says the Australian Office of Financial Management and Treasury are deceiving investors by not disclosing climate change alongside other financial risks in its exchange-traded debt

The Australian government is defending a class-action lawsuit that claims it’s misleading investors by failing to disclose the impact of climate risk in its bonds.

Amid a growing wave of climate litigation worldwide, 23-year-old law student Kathleen O’Donnell says the Australian Office of Financial Management and the Treasury are deceiving investors by not disclosing climate change alongside other financial risks in its exchange-traded debt. She wants all marketing halted until the disclosures are made.

In the first hearing at the Federal Court in Melbourne on Tuesday, the case was adjourned after Justice Bernard Murphy ordered O’Donnell’s lawyers to detail the harm caused