The Australian Federal Government has taken the next step to protect the Great Barrier Reef with the release of details of its plan to ban capital dredge material disposal in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
This will represent a complete ban on capital dredge disposal in the entire Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. There will be zero capital disposal anywhere in the entire 345,000sq km Marine Park. This covers the full area of Commonwealth legislative control.
The Queensland Government has also committed to cover a further 3000sq km including existing port areas which are not in the Marine Park.
Together, the 345,000 sq km Commonwealth ban (100% of the Marine Park and 99% of the total ban) and the 3000 sq km Queensland ban (1% of the total ban) will cover 100% of the World Heritage area.
The ban will be put in law through regulation and will apply to all applications for capital dredge disposal in the marine park whether past present or future.