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Reef envoy’s opposition to Clive Palmer-owned mine welcomed
Great Barrier Reef special envoy and Leichhardt federal MP Warren Entsch has come out strongly against the Clive Palmer-owned Central Queensland Coal project planned for just 10km from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
In a letter handed to supporters of the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s action against the mine outside his electoral office in Cairns on 10 June, Mr Entsch said he had expressed his ‘very strong opposition to the project to Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley and her staff’.
The mine is proposed for an area between Rockhampton and Mackay. It was deemed ‘not suitable to proceed’ by the Queensland government because of ‘unacceptable risks’ to the Great Barrier Reef and surrounding environments.
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Subscriber only The campaign to save the Gympie Pyramid from the $1 billion bypass has been dealt a blow with Federal Environment Minister Sussan ley rejecting an application for emergency protection of the site. A spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment said Ms Ley decided against making the declaration as she was not satisfied the area was a significant Aboriginal area for the purposes of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. Campaigners for the preservation of the site, also called Djaki Kundu, applied to Ms Ley s office for the declaration in January after failing to secure an injunction to halt the work last November in Brisbane s Supreme Court.
The Federal Environment Minister was asked to issue emergency protection for the site from the Gympie Bypass amid claims it had Aboriginal significance.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society has welcomed news that a flatback turtle stronghold in Broad Sound has been chosen by the Federal Government.