Brad Fish: "Well some of the myths I suppose is that our developments are right on the Great Barrier Reef as far as coral reefs and so forth are concerned.  The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is, you know, 34 million hectares of land.  It’s a massive area sitting out there.  The ports are a very very small area, nowhere near coral reefs or areas of environmental significance. Yes, everything has environmental importance but the ports are in areas where we can actually develop them without impacting on coral or the important attributes of the Great Barrier Reef.  But people tend to believe and see that our ports are right through in the Reef. The reality is the ports are accumulatively even and occupy, a fraction of 1% of the total Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area, very very small area.  And what we are looking to do is to use those areas that we do have responsibly and fully and to allow the future economic development of the country on the way through."

Categories: Environment, Environment & Climate, Great Barrier Reef
Author: Brad Fish