They are two of Australia's most celebrated places of natural beauty, sitting at either end of the country. Both are world heritage protected. And in the eyes of conservationists both took significant blows on Friday.

In Australia's north, a final permit was granted to allow the dumping of millions of tonnes of dredging sludge in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef. In the south, the Abbott government confirmed it would seek to remove parts of Tasmania's forest wilderness from the United Nations' world heritage list.

Grief for reef: Three million cubic metres of dredge spoil from the Abbot Point coal terminal will be dumped in the Great Barrier Reef. Credit:Darren Jew

In a long-awaited decision, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority allowed the North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation to dump three million cubic metres of dredge spoil in reef waters as part of its expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal, north of Bowen.

The plan had already been approved by federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt, with environmental conditions, but the authority had the final say over whether the dredge spoil could be dumped in the marine park that protects the reef.