Ban will apply to new dredging projects but not the larger world heritage area which includes inshore waters where ports are located

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The government has pledged to formally ban the highly controversial practice of dumping sediment in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef.



Greg Hunt, the environment minister, said he will use the existing Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority act to “put in place this ban in legislative form”. The ban will apply to all new dredging projects that plan to dispose of removed seabed into the reef’s marine park.

The ban differs slightly from Labor’s stated policy, announced this week, that there should be a legislated ban on dumping spoil in the reef’s world heritage area, rather than just the marine park. While the two areas overlap almost entirely, the world heritage area contains inshore waters where ports are located.

“We have removed all inherited disposal plans, they are all gone,” Hunt said. “We’ve turned around a century’s of practice.”

Hunt initially approved a plan to dump dredged spoil within the marine park in order to allow the expansion of the Abbot Point port in Queensland. However, an alternative plan has now been put forward by the Queensland government to place the spoil on land, with Hunt promising a “line in the sand” on stopping future dumping.

Studies have shown that dumped seabed sediment can smother and damage coral and fish. Unesco’s world heritage committee, which is considering whether to put the Great Barrier Reef on its “in danger” list next year, asked the Australian government to consider halting the practice.

The committee also raised concerns over the handover of environmental approvals from the federal government to the Queensland government and has called for no major new ports to be built beside the reef.

“The world heritage committee asked us to investigate options to dispose on land, and the Queensland and commonwealth governments have said they no longer accept marine disposal,” Hunt said.

WWF welcomed Hunt’s move while calling for the entire world heritage area to be protected from dumping.

“We congratulate Mr Hunt for continued progress on an issue that is of deep concern to the vast majority of Australians,” said Dermot O’Gorman, chief executive of WWF Australia. “It is no longer acceptable to simply use the reef as a dump.

“The world heritage committee meeting will be held in June next year. As we get closer to this crucial event, we urge the government to build on this and announce a full ban on dumping in the entire Great Barrier Reef world heritage area.”

The Greens said while Hunt’s move is welcome, there are “loopholes” that will allow dredging and dumping that has already been planned.

“As minister Hunt is only applying this to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park rather than the larger world heritage area, plans for further dumping off Gladstone and new dumping off Townsville won’t be stopped because they are set to dump in the world heritage area,” said Greens senator Larissa Waters.

“The distinction between dumping in the marine park and the world heritage area is ridiculous because dredge spoil doesn’t just sit there once dumped. It travels kilometres, with wind, tide, current and wave action, to smother corals and seagrass beds.”

Hunt, who spoke to journalists alongside foreign minister Julie Bishop at the World Parks Congress, which is being held in Sydney, also committed new funding for coral reef protection.

Australia will spend $6m from its foreign aid budget on the coral triangle initiative, a partnership with six countries including Indonesia and Malaysia.

The area is home to 76% of the world’s known coral species and 37% of the world’s reef fish species. The money will be used to promote sustainable use of the reefs, such as ecotourism.

A further $700,000 will be spent by the government on cleaning up marine debris across the Great Barrier Reef. Community and traditional owner groups will help clear items such as ghost nets that prove a threat to marine species.

The World Parks Congress is a once-in-a-decade international conservation gathering organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It oversees targets on protecting the world’s land and oceans.

The IUCN has said the world needs to do more to protect natural spaces, particularly ocean areas. Australia’s Coalition government has torn up management plans for what would be the world’s largest network of marine reserves, citing unfair restrictions on fishers, but Hunt said he was still committed to protecting the oceans.

“The international goal is 10% and Australia is at 36% of marine area protected,” he said. “There is some debate over the usage, but the boundaries and parks are enshrined by law.”