The authority responsible for Australia’s World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef says it wanted dredging spoil dumped inland, not on the Reef, but has no authority to order it.
A week after its controversial decision, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has now revealed it would prefer if dredge spoil wasn’t dumped within park boundaries, but has said it does not have the power to enforce its view.
AAP Newsagency reports the authority has offered an assurance the dumping of three million cubic metres of spoil in the park will not harm the world icon.
GBRMPA chairman Dr Russell Reichelt said its preference was for the spoil, from the Abbot Point port expansion, to be dumped on land.
“Absolutely, it’s part of our national guidelines,” he told ABC Radio News.
The GBRMPA last week approved North Queensland Bulk Port’s application to dump up to three million cubic metres of sludge in the marine park.
The approval came after the Environment Minister in Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government, Greg Hunt, gave the project his approval.
Dr Reichelt said the authority failed to persuade NQBP to dump the dredge inland and it could not legally force it to.
“Essentially that wasn’t a decision for the marine park authority in the legal no-go sense,” he said.
However, he said land dumping was difficult given the port was surrounded by valuable wetland and bird habitats.
He added the authority was satisfied with the offshore dumping plan.
“We determined that action wouldn’t harm the barrier reef if it was done in a certain way and that’s something that’s critically important,” Dr Reichelt said.
The approved dumping site is about 25 kilometres east-northeast of the port and about 20km from the nearest reef.
The spoil, about 70 per cent sand and 30 per cent silt and clay would become part of the moving billion of tonnes of natural sediment in the ocean within a year of disposal, Dr Reichelt said.
He said detailed scientific studies determined the dumping would have no adverse impacts on the reef.
Dr Reichelt also said the authority would supervise the port at all times to ensure all conditions were met.
The United Nations arm UNESCO, which administers World Heritage listing, will meet in June to decide if the Great Barrier Reef should be place on a World Heritage in Danger list as the Australian and Queensland governments have not complied with a list of provisions UNESCO put in place to safeguard the reef.
