Graham Readfearn (The Guardian, 12.3.15) criticises the ALP government for claiming to protect the Great Barrier Reef by ensuring dredge spoil to be dumped on land.
‘The Queensland government described the agreement as “environmentally sustainable”. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said this sent a “clear message” that “we can protect the Great Barrier Reef”.
‘But government agencies and scientists have found that the key long-term threat to the reef is not improving the quality of the water (although this does help in the short term) but the rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused chiefly from burning fossil fuels.
‘You can’t “save the reef” while expanding the very industry which puts it most at risk.
‘The Abbot Point plans are a key part of the efforts to open up one of the world’s largest untapped sources of fossil fuel carbon – Queensland’s Galilee Basin. The scale of the emissions from the mines and burning the coal is something to behold.’