Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Senator Conroy, regarding the dumping of dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef. The public found out last weekend, on the front page of the Australian, that the government is proposing to impose a fee for dumping dredge spoil—spoil which has been ripped off the sea floor in the first place—right back onto the reef. Only selected closed consultation was undertaken by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on this incredible proposal, so the Australian people know very little about it. My question is: what on earth was the government thinking with this proposal to force the authority charged with protecting the reef to raise money from polluting it and when did the government plan to tell the Australian public about its plans to turn the reef into a marine rubbish tip?