Antinuclear

Queensland’s new Labor government acts to save the Great barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef polluters face tougher action under Queensland’s new government Labor government appoints state’s first ever reef minister as it steps up plan to avoid the UN listing the ecosystem as ‘in danger’ Guardian, Oliver Milman, 18 Feb 15 The Queensland government may adopt tough new regulations to tackle the amount of pollution flowing onto the Great Barrier Reef, with the state’s first ever reef minister vowing to strengthen protections to avoid the ecosystem being listed as “in danger” by the UN.

The new Labor government has promised to slash the amount of nitrogen flowing on to the reef from key catchments by 80% by 2025, while also cutting total suspended sediment reaching the reef by 50% by the same year.

While some progress has been made in encouraging farmers to change practices to stop harmful chemicals running off their land on to the reef, Labor has indicated new regulations may be introduced to achieve its targets.

“I don’t want to pre-empt any discussions but there are a range of levers available, from regulation to education to innovation and we’ll be looking to all of those to make sure it works,” Steven Miles, Queensland’s newly-appointed environment minister told Guardian Australia. Miles has also been given the new title of minister for the Great Barrier Reef…….

Unesco’s world heritage committee will meet in June to decide whether to list the reef, which is in declining health, as “in danger”. Miles said he would ensure Labor’s new reef policies will be submitted to the UN this month for consideration.

The new state government has also pledged to halt the dumping of dredged sediment in the reef’s world heritage area, as well as scrap an LNP plan to dump spoil from the expanded Abbot Point port on to the nearby Caley Valley wetlands, which is regarded as nationally significant area for wildlife……..

The new environment minister said a commission will be set up to assess feed-in tariffs for solar energy, in order to meet a Labor goal of one million solar rooftops by 2020.

Separately, Labor has committed to banning uranium mining in Queensland, while Miles said he’d have “serious concerns” about any proposal to dump nuclear waste in the state.

Dermot O’Gorman, chief executive of WWF Australia, said it was an “important signal” that Queensland now has a minister for the Great Barrier Reef and that the new protections for the reef were “urgent”.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/18/great-barrier-reef-polluters-face-tougher-action-under-queenslands-new-government

February 20, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Queensland