Greg Hunt News

The leader of Australia’s New South Wales state apologized on Monday for failing to stop people carrying the novel coronavirus from disembarking from a cruise ship in Sydney in March, triggering what was at the time Australia’s worst outbreak.The apology from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for her government’s poor handling of the outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess came as the number of deaths from a second wave of infection in Victoria state hit a record 25.Australia has reported 23…

The Australian Government has signed a deal with DMS Maritime, a wholly owned subsidiary of Serco, for the delivery, operation and maintenance of an Antarctic Supply Research Vessel (ASRV) with icebreaking capabilities. The vessel, to be built by the Damen Shipyards Group, will form an integral part of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) program in the coming years. The April 28 signing ceremony in Hobart Tasmania was attended by Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julia Bishop and Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt.

A heritage committee of the UNESCO cultural agency stopped short of placing Australia's Great Barrier Reef on an "in danger" list, but the ruling on Friday raised long-term concerns about its future. The long-awaited ruling by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee welcomed Australian efforts to maintain the environmentally sensitive region but noted its outlook was "poor" and called on the government to stick rigidly to commitments to protect it. "Climate change, poor water quality and impacts from coastal development are major threats to the property's health...," the statement said after delegates held discussions in the German city in Bonn. Busy shipping lanes pass through the area and commercial ships are required to hire a special "reef pilot" to navigate through it.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee is due to decide in June whether to put the reef on its "in danger" list because its corals have been badly damaged and some of its animal species, including dugong and large green turtles, are threatened. Such a listing could lead to restrictions on shipping and port expansions that could hit Australia's trade in commodities and energy. Environment Minister Greg Hunt issued proposed changes to regulations to carry out the ban, which he announced in November, barring sea dumping of dredged soil in the 345,000 sq km Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The park is under federal government control. The Queensland state government also plans to ban dredge dumping in a further 3…

The dumping of dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park will be completely banned under draft laws proposed by the Federal Environment Minister. Greg Hunt said the regulation would forever end the disposal of capital dredge spoil within the marine park - an area 345,000 square kilometres in size. Capital dredging is the removal of an undisturbed area of the seabed. The reef, home to a huge array of life, is under threat from massive industrial development to enlarge port facilities. Hunt said the dumping of capital dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park would be completely banned under draft legislation drawn up by the federal government.

Australia has ordered a ban on dumping dredge waste on most of the Great Barrier Reef, the environment minister Greg Hunt stated, as part of a push to cease the UN declaring the website in danger. The atmosphere minister has given orders for new regulations to be put in place for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, to ban them from issuing dumping permits for the reef. This has been a dramatic change in the way the reef is managed, said a statement from Hunt. He added that it was ending 100 years of practice, 14 years of Queensland Labor practice, six years of federal practice, and his party doing what Labor never did. The move makes good on Hunt’s commitment to the Unesco World Heritage Committee, which has threatened to list the reef as in danger.

The Australian government on Monday approved Indian firm Adani Mining Pty Ltd's controversial A$16.5 billion ($15.5 billion) Carmichael coal and rail project in Queensland, subject to strict conditions to protect groundwater. The Carmichael mine, which could become Australia's largest coal mine at 60 million tonnes a year, has sparked protests from green groups and marine tour operators worried about carbon pollution and export of the coal from a port near the Great Barrier Reef. Greenpeace said the conditions imposed on the project would do little to protect the environment from the bigger impact of shipping through the World Heritage-listed reef and burning the huge amounts of coal the mine will produce.

Western Australia's Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, has approved plans to build a $500 million coal export facility at Bunbury Port. Construction is expected to start in mid-2015, with the first exports planned for 2017. Coal for exports will travel to the port by rail. The facility will require dredging up to 1.9 million cubic metres at the port and blasting 20,000 cubic metres of rock. Approval was given with a number of conditions, including a requirement to monitor dolphin populations and not conduct blasting activities during dolphin calving periods from October to May each year.

At 2:50 p.m. (AEDT) today the captain of the Sea Shepherd Australia ship The Bob Barker, Peter Hammarstedt, reported his ship had just crossed into Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) 200 miles off Macquarie Island, but a pursuing Japanese whale harpoon ship, Yushin Maru No. 3, has stopped one mile outside the zone. Federal Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt had been in touch with the Japanese authorities over the impending invasion of the Australian Whale Sanctuary, which includes the EEZ, by the harpoon ship.

The Australian Antarctic Division has rescheduled its early season voyages with the icebreaker Aurora Australis delayed in heavy ice conditions off the Antarctic coast. The ship is in heavy ice about 180 nautical miles off Davis station, returning from resupplying the station and delivering summer personnel. Radar satellite images this morning indicated that while there may be some useful openings, the sea ice extends to approximately 60 nautical miles around the ship. Beyond that, less concentrated ice will be easier to navigate. Australian Antarctic Division Director, Dr.