Concerns Grow Over Great Barrier Reef

Queensland taxpayers could soon be slugged with the bill of destroying their own Great Barrier Reef, under an outrageous plan outlined by Premier Campbell Newman yesterday at G20 negotiations, said Greenpeace.

“Premier Campbell Newman is offering a paycheck to a foreign company with a shocking track record to dredge up our Great Barrier Reef and build a dirty great coal mine,” said Greenpeace reef campaigner Shani Tager.

The announcement comes just days after China and the US negotiated a deal to address climate change and move away from coal as an energy source. Obama himself expressed concern about the future of the Great Barrier Reef, and leading global banks such as Deutsche Bank and Citi have turned away from funding the new coal port at Abbot Point.

Premier Newman’s support of Adani’s Carmichael mega mine also appears to be out of joint with a recent announcement by Indian Power Minister, Piyush Goyal, detailing how India will stop foreign imports of thermal coal in the next three years, just as Adani’s mine is predicted to come online.

The proposal would bring dredging in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area a step closer, as Adani’s Carmichael mine would require a new coal export terminal at Abbot Point, for which dredging must occur. Dredging in the World Heritage Area was cited by UNESCO as a reason it considers placing the Reef on its World Heritage ‘in danger’ list.

“To add insult to injury, the Queensland Government plans to give our hard-earned dollars to a company notorious for flouting the law. Coal giant Adani has been investigated and fined in its home country of India for bribery, illegal shipments, environmental destruction and building on village land without permission,” said Tager.

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