Queensland election 2015: Greg Hunt, Greens seek ALP word on reef

QUEENSLAND Labor is being pressured from all sides to deliver on its promises to boost protections for the Great Barrier Reef.

QUEENSLAND Labor is being pressured from all sides to deliver on promises to boost protections for the Great Barrier Reef.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt called yesterday for state legislation to outlaw any ­future coal and port development at Keppel Bay in central Queensland.

Meanwhile, green groups are demanding state Labor hold firm on its promises not to fund ­infrastructure for the Abbott Point ­coal port expansion, calling for a full ­inquiry into the financial ­affairs of Galilee Basin developer Adani.

Mr Hunt confirmed he had put any decisions on Abbot Point on hold pending advice from Queensland on how it planned to proceed.

He called on the Queensland Labor Party to deliver on its election promise to rule out coal or other port activities at Keppel Bay, an area internationally considered to be one of the world’s last undeveloped delta systems.

“I hope the Queensland Labor Party will be willing to ensure the area is protected from development in state legislation,” Mr Hunt said.

Major coal export deve­lopments planned for the Fitzroy Delta under the previous Labor government have been scrapped.

The Gladstone Ports Corp had also shelved plans to dredge more than five million cubic metres of sea floor to open the area for big ships and a new port at Rockhampton, at Sea Hill.

Mining giant Xstrata had ­proposed a 35-million-tonne-a-year coal project at Balaclava ­Island and the Mitchell Group a 22-­million-tonne-a-year Port Alma development, which would involve barging coal into Keppel Bay for transhipment.

Both projects were discontinued under the Abbott government and Queensland’s Liberal Nat­ional Party amid negotiations with the World Heritage Committee to avoid an “in danger” listing for the Great Barrier Reef.

“I constructively call on the Queensland Labor Party to ­deliver on their promise and rule out any development in the Fitzroy Delta,” Mr Hunt said.

“I have previously said that the area would be protected for 100 years and it is important that the Queensland government ensures that the legislation makes this clear.”

Mr Hunt confirmed that ­decisions on major projects including Abbot Point, where the state government was the proponent, were on hold.

He said he would take advice from the incoming government on how it wished to proceed.

The LNP government in Queensland had approved a plan to dump dredge material from the planned Abbot Point expansion into a land reclamation area that included some wetlands.

Queensland Labor had promised to protect the wetlands and to  abandon the LNP plans to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to infrastructure investments to help open up the Galilee Basin coal deposits.

Environment groups are calling for a full-scale inquiry into the business affairs of Indian company Adani, which is planning to develop the Carmichael mine, after reports in Fairfax Media newspapers of the company’s use of foreign tax shelters.

Blair Palese, the chief executive of the climate action group 350.org, said: “A full and ­proper ­investigation into the legitimacy of Adani’s operations and who owns Abbot Point is clearly needed and the possibility of a royal commission should not be ruled out.

“Minister Hunt must fulfil his duty to protect the environment and call a moratorium on this ­disastrous project.”