Dredge spill moves from Great Barrier Reef to Abbot Point port

ALMOST 3 million cubic metres of dredge spoil is now set to be used as land fill at the Abbot Point port.

ALMOST three million cubic metre­s of dredge spoil that was to be dumped into the Great Barrier Reef is now set to be used as land fill at the Abbot Point port, under a plan to be put for urgent ­approval to the federal government.

In a dramatic development, the Queensland government is moving to sack the state-owned authority overseeing the expansion of the coal port and abandon federal government-approved plans to dispose of the dredged material within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Touted as a win for the envir­onment, state government and miners, it will blunt the national and international controversy over the impact of the dredge spoil on the reef and avoid a looming court challenge brought by conservation groups.

It is also hoped the move will convince UNESCO not to list the Great Barrier Reef as in danger next year, after it raised particular concerns about dumping the dredge waste into the park.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney confirmed yesterday that he would put the plan to state cabinet ­for approval on Monday before seeking an urgent meeting with federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt to green-light the “land-based solution’’.

Mr Seeney said Mr Hunt needed to approve the plan quickly so the dredging work could meet its start date in March, and not delay the massive coalmine projects of GVK Hancock and the Adani Group in the Galilee Basin that will export from the port.

“We believe dumping at sea is environmentally the worst ­option,’’ Mr Seeney told The Weekend Australian yesterday.

“We have a solution to put to the federal government that can be approved in time for the beginning of the dredging that has been planned.

“There are currently permits that legally allow the dredge and dumping to begin in March.

“We have the engineering and state approvals done, and now the pressure is on the federal government to approve our alternate proposal before they start.’’

A spokesman for Mr Hunt said last night: “We are confident that a proposal can be looked at without causing any significant delay.’’

Mr Hunt gave the green light in December to the dumping of the dredge into the sea after it was ­approved by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

The Australian reported in March that the authority had repeatedly warned the federal Envir­onment Department that the dredging plan risked irreparable damage to the reef and should be rejected. But internal documents, obtained by ABC’s Four Corners program, showed last month that the authority appointed a career ­bureaucrat, with no background in marine science, who ­approved the plan over the expert advice.

Mr Seeney said the Newman state government had been working on a solution to avoid dumping the material at sea since soon after it won office in March 2012.

Among its first decisions was to scale down the Bligh Labor government’s planned expansion of the Abbot Point port — from six new berths to just two — which ­effectively cut the dredging by about 80 per cent.

Mr Seeney said the government had been obstructed by the state-owned North Queensland Bulk Ports, which was overseeing the expansion, and the deals that had been done under the previous government.

“We have been untying the knots that surrounded the whole development … and that involved taking NQBP out of the picture,’’ he said. Mr Seeney said NQBP chief executive Brad Fish had recently left the organisation.