Greg Hunt, the federal environment minister, has released details of a new ban on dumping sediment within the entire 345,000 sq km Great Barrier Reef marine park.
The ban will cover existing and future “capital” dredging, which is the initial digging up of seabed sediment in an approved dredging project. But it does not cover maintenance dredging – which Hunt said was needed to avoid a “catastrophic” shipping accident – nor burying cables or pipelines.
There is one application to dredge and dump in the reef’s waters – a plan to open an area at Cairns to allow cruise ships to dock.
Dredging is the process of deepening the seabed to allow large ships to gain access to ports.
Hunt said the measure demonstrated the government’s commitment to the reef, which is in declining health and could be listed as “in danger” when Unesco’s world heritage committee meets in Germany in June.
“I think this ban will stay in perpetuity,” he said. “It is 100 years in the making but I’m delighted it’s taken place on our watch. When I’m on the rocking chair in 40 years’ time, I hope I will look back at this and think that in the course of my professional life there may be nothing more important.
“It’s a satisfying moment. I know other countries are astonished at what Australia has achieved over the past year.”
Hunt said he had worked cooperatively with Queensland’s new Labor government to ensure the entire reef’s world heritage area is covered by the ban.
The reef’s marine park, administered by the federal government, covers 99% of the world heritage area. Five large port areas, accounting for 1% of the area, are administered by the Queensland government, which has also committed to a dumping ban.
Hunt said that criticism that the ban would not cover the entire world heritage area is a “myth perpetuated by the hard-left groups. We were always going to deal with the 99%. Queensland is going to deal with the 1% and that’s how the constitution works.”
The dumping of sediment dredged from the seabed into the reef’s waters has become a totemic issue for environmental campaigners. Scientists have warned that the practice can smother corals and seagrasses, causing cascading problems for wildlife, including sea turtles and dugongs.
Hunt initially signed off on a plan to dump about 5 million tonnes of sediment into the reef’s waters in December 2013, to facilitate the expansion of the Abbot Point port, near the town of Bowen.
However, after an official request by Unesco to alter the plan, the Queensland and federal governments shifted to a proposal where the sediment was dumped on a wetlands area. The new Queensland government has altered this so the sediment will now be placed in the port area after concerns the wetlands plan would prove harmful to wildlife.
Nick Heath, a Great Barrier Reef campaigner at the World Wildlife Fund, welcomed Hunt’s announcement.
“This protects a large area of the reef’s waters and we hope that all dumping near the reef will now cease,” he said. “One of the best features of today’s announcement is that the definition of capital dredging, at 15,000 tonnes or more, is quite restrictive. It would cover all of the proposals in the future we’d be worried about.”
Heath said the Australian and Queensland government still needed to do more to avoid the reef being listed in danger, citing more funding to prevent pollution running on to the coral ecosystem and better resourcing for the Great Barrier Reef marine park authority.
The new dumping regulation will be open for public comment until 27 March.
