Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Ian Macdonald for that question, because no senator in this place has for longer and with greater diligence and determination fought for the protection of the Great Barrier Reef than Senator Ian Macdonald. Not quite since the days of the Gorton government, but certainly for a very long period of time has Senator Ian Macdonald come to this Senate and championed the cause of protection of the Great Barrier Reef. It is entirely appropriate that he should be asking this question about the next great protection that a coalition government is putting in place to protect the Great Barrier Reef. This week the Minister for the Environment, Mr Hunt, released the details around our plan to ban capital dredge material disposal within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. This is a significant step forward and a significant step taken by those on this side of the chamber, and for all of the interjections from Senator Singh or others on the other side, they never chose to take this action.

We are delivering on our commitment to end what has been a century old practice of capital dredge material disposal. Our plan will provide for a complete ban on capital dredge disposal in the entire area of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. There will be zero capital disposal anywhere in the entire 345,000 square kilometre marine park area, which covers the full area of Commonwealth legislative control. Further, the Queensland government is committed to providing cover for an additional 3,000 square kilometres, including existing port areas that are not held in the marine park. This is a great step forward by a coalition government building on a long track record of protecting this great natural asset. (Time expired)