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New bill will have significant repercussions for Great Barrier Reef
An amendment bill that will reverse protection measures currently in place for the Great Barrier Reef should not be passed according to the National Environmental Law Association.
Lauren Croft
The National Environmental Law Association (NELA) has recommended to a Queensland Parliamentary inquiry that the Environmental and Other Legislation (Reversal of Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) Amendment Bill 2021 not be passed, as it will have dire consequences for the Great Barrier Reef.
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The bill proposes to repeal amendments that the Queensland Parliament enacted in the 2019 Environmental Protection (Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2019.
Katter Australia party member for Hinchinbrook, Nicholas Dametto MP, introduced the bill to the Queensland Parliament on 21 April. The bill was referred to the health and environment committee (the committee) for inquiry and report by 21 October 2021.
In a submission to the Queensland parliamentary committee’s inquiry, NELA recommended that the bill not be passed, as did other submissions from lawyers, including the Environmental Defenders Office. Callum Brockett and Queensland University of Technology students Erin McNamara, Jaymin Pratt, and Jonty Morrison drafted NELA’s submission, with guidance and comments from NELA president Dr Hanna Jaireth and NELA director Dr Katie Woolaston.
Dr Jaireth said that the proposed bill is inconsistent with current attempts to preserve the Great Barrier Reef – including the “precautionary principle” in national environmental legislation.
“NELA’s view is that the Bill is inconsistent with the Australian and Queensland Government’s attempts to protect, preserve, and improve the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef,” she explained.
“Both Governments aim to meet the water quality targets set out in their joint Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan 2017–2022 (Reef 2050 WQIP). Under this plan, the target is a 60 per cent reduction in anthropogenic end-of-catchment dissolved inorganic nitrogen loads and a 25 per cent reduction in anthropogenic end-of-catchment sediment loads by 2025.”
In its submission, NELA argued that passing the bill would weaken the regulatory measures implemented to reduce the impact of agricultural practices on the Great Barrier Reef’s water quality as well as detract from Australia’s ability to fulfill its international obligations to protect the reef.
“The Bill proposes to weaken the Queensland Government’s regulatory measures enacted in 2019 that were designed to reduce the impact of agricultural practices on the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef,” Dr Jaireth added.
“Those regulatory measures should not be weakened because the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2019 found that although some pollutant run-off had been reduced, particularly from the sugar-cane sector, overall progress towards meeting the Reef 2050 WQIP targets had been too slow.
“End-of-catchment fine sediment and particulate nutrient loads needed to be reduced more quickly to improve the overall inshore marine condition that has remained poor, despite some land management practices improving.”
The bill would also detract from current objectives set in place by the Queensland government to prevent the reef from being placed on a danger list by the world heritage committee.
“This is of significant concern, due to the prospect that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) WHC may place the Great Barrier Reef on the List of World Heritage in Danger this month, particularly in view of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Heritage Outlook Report assessing the conservation outlook as ‘critical’,” Dr Jaireth said.
