Coalition says phosphate exploration would have had unacceptable impact on endangered seabird

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Turnbull government has knocked back a controversial phosphate exploration proposal on Christmas Island “because it is likely to have significant and unacceptable impacts on matters protected under national environment law”.

Phosphate Resources Limited – the owners of a phosphate mine on Christmas Island – had proposed to clear 6.83ha of land and undertake exploration drilling along 44 survey lines in an effort to determine the extent of the additional phosphate resources on Christmas Island.

But the proposal has been knocked back under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act because the exploration would have taken place in rainforest areas assessed to be in either very good or pristine condition, and would have threatened the endangered seabird the Abbott’s booby.

“The government’s decision reflects the fact that Christmas Island is a unique and irreplaceable environment,” the environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, said on Thursday. “The island was uninhabited until the late 19th century, which allowed many species to evolve without human interference.

“Christmas Island is home to many unique and rare plants and animals. These include the millions of red crabs which migrate to the sea each year to spawn in what has been called one of the wonders of the natural world.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Red crabs moving from the ocean the forest on Christmas Island in 2005. Photograph: AAP

“Environmental damage on small islands has a far greater impact because of its limited capacity to recover from declines in biodiversity caused by the cumulative effects of land clearing, habitat fragmentation and invasive species compared to large land masses.

Christmas Island is home to 254 species that exist nowhere else in the world including the migrating crabs and rare seabirds.

“The government has determined that this particular proposal is likely to have unacceptable impacts on the environment of Christmas Island including the endangered Abbott’s booby, whose rainforest home on the island is the only remaining nesting habitat for this bird in the world,” Frydenberg said.

The environment minister said the land clearing could result in the introduction of aggressive weed species with the capacity to overwhelm native vegetation and to alter the structure of the surrounding forest.

A report in 2010 found Christmas Island had been subjected to severe ecological stress triggered by land clearing for phosphate mining. The then environment minister, Peter Garrett, refused an extension of the mine on the basis it would create unacceptable impacts on the island’s biodiversity.

There have only been 11 refusals under the EPBC Act over its 20-year history.



The phosphate operations on Christmas Island have been targeted for many years by environmental activists but the local council has warned failure to allow the proposed exploration could precipitate a major collapse in the local economy.

The phosphate exploration proposal was located on the eastern side of the island, in rainforest areas. It has been the subject of environmental assessment for several years.