Australia Bans Waste Dumping on Barrier Reef
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.
Environment groups say the dump ban in the marine park is an “important step” but ignores about 80% of dredge dumping in the rest of the reef’s world heritage area.
While Hunt's pledge has garnered support, the public was still waiting on a decision on the controversial Abbot Point project, which would see up to 1.7 million cubic metres of dredge spoil dumped on the nationally-listed Caley Valley wetlands.
