Company discharged nitrogen into world heritage area on several occasions despite being forbidden from doing so

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A nickel refinery owned by Clive Palmer has released toxic wastewater into the Great Barrier Reef marine park on several occasions despite being forbidden from doing so, government documents have revealed.



The Queensland Nickel refinery, located at Yabulu, 20km north of Townsville, made unauthorised discharges of nitrogen-laden water into the world heritage area in 2009 and then again in 2011. The latter incident pumped 516 tonnes of nitrogen into the marine park.

Documents obtained under freedom of information by the North Queensland Conservation Council show the state government considered there to be “ongoing problems with capacity of the water management system” at Yabulu.

Concerns that heavy rain may cause pools of toxic wastewater to overflow into the surrounding environment led Queensland Nickel to request the water be pumped into the Great Barrier Reef park in March 2009 and then in January 2010.

These requests were rejected by the park authority, which demanded the outflow pipe be removed within two years. But the discharges occurred anyway. Despite this, no civil or criminal proceedings were taken against the company.

In June 2012, Queensland Nickel said it intended to discharge wastewater into the park continuously for at least three months, even though the water was understood to have nitrogen levels “at least 100 times the allowed maximum level as well as heavy metals and other contaminants”.

The park authority said the contaminated water exceeded guidelines for ammonia and several other metals. In a briefing, it said this discharge on to the reef “would be similar to the daily discharge of treated sewage from a city of seven million people”.

Internal government emails indicate Queensland Nickel’s displeasure with the park authority’s stance, with the agency considered “obstructionist”.

According to a marine park authority briefing, the company had “threatened a compensation claim of $6.4bn should the GBRMPA intend to exert authority over the company’s operations”.

The mining magnate and MP Clive Palmer purchased the refinery from BHP in 2009, with the contentious outflow pipe placed 2km offshore before the declaration of the Great Barrier Reef as a world heritage area in 1981.

The refinery produces about 30,000 tonnes of nickel and 1,500 tonnes of cobalt a year and employs about 1,000 people. Palmer has federal approval to increase these amounts substantially and the government documents show that Queensland Nickel queried whether this approval exempted the company from marine park authority regulations.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Palmer said his business had an “excellent” environmental track record.

“We didn’t breach any environmental laws, there was no action taken against us over that particular thing you’re talking about,” he told a questioner. “It wasn’t true. It was found that that wasn’t true, we didn’t breach any environmental laws and that’s just a furphy. It’s another beat-up.

“The Queensland Department of the Environment just renewed our licence for another three years and that’s the truth of the matter. But I’m sure that Campbell Newman will have a go at me because I object to people being thrown in solitary confinement for 22 hours when they haven’t committed a crime.”

Andrew Powell, Queensland’s environment minister, said Queensland Nickel hadn’t used the pipeline since 2011, when Labor was in power.

“We are not responsible for what has occurred in the past, but what we are doing is ensuring from here on in, since we have come into government that Queensland Nickel meets their environmental responsibilities,” he said.

“They have until 1 November to raise that wall (which prevents spills from the toxic pools) and if not there will be significant consequences.”

Palmer has previously warned of a catastrophic “disaster” if the contaminated water ponds, known as tailings ponds, overflow owing to heavy rainfall.



In 2012 he said: “If the water is not released there’s an 8% risk the ponds will collapse and cancer-causing tailings will spill into Townsville waterways. If we close it down and leave the dams there, they’re going to burst and children are going to die.”

The government documents make it clear that the tailing ponds are required to deal with a “one in 100 year rainfall and wind event”. While no such event took place in the five years before the document being written in 2011, “discharges continued to occur before and after heavy wet season rains.”

A spokesman for Greg Hunt, the federal environment minister, told Guardian Australia: “This happened under the previous Labor government. The minister has sought advice on the matter.”

Wendy Tubman, co-ordinator of the North Queensland Conservation Council, told Guardian Australia that the documents showed the environmental system was “fundamentally flawed”.

“Much is made of the conditions placed on developments such as this and in Gladstone, but those conditions mean nothing because when they are broken – no action is taken,” she said.

“We know the reef south of Cooktown is in poor and declining health and it could be placed on the world heritage ‘in danger’ list. And yet there will be huge dredging at Abbot Point and we are told, ‘Don’t worry, there are conditions.’ We really doubt the credibility of those assurances.”

The Greens senator Larissa Waters said the revelations were “appalling”.

“If Clive Palmer can afford ads for himself on primetime TV, he can afford to clean up his businesses rather than letting them pollute the reef,” she said.

“Instead, he has threatened to sue the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority if they pursue him for illegally dumping toxic pollution into the Reef.

“Mr Palmer needs to stop thinking of the reef like it’s his own personal waste dump.”

In a statement the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said: “We have strongly encouraged the company to investigate options that do not entail releasing the material to the environment and to develop a management plan to eliminate this potential hazard; however, GBRMPA does not have legislative control over how the Yabulu tailings dam is managed.

“Our legislative powers only allow us to approve or reject permit applications. We have never issued a permit for Queensland Nickel to discharge wastewater into the marine park.”



Queensland Nickel and the Queensland government were also contacted for comment.