1 September
2008 - Minister for the Environment, Peter
Garrett, today announced the appointment
of two new members to the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Authority and restored
Indigenous membership to the body.
“I am pleased to announce
the appointments of Ms Melissa George and
Mr Russell Beer to the Marine Park Authority,”
Mr Garrett said.
“Ms George and Mr Beer
will bring valuable skills and experience
in managing the long-term protection and
ecologically sustainable use of one of our
most significant environmental assets –
the Great Barrier Reef.
“Ms George has extensive
expertise in protected area and natural
resource management, as well as in Indigenous
matters, and her appointment delivers on
the Government's election promise to restore
an Indigenous member to the Great Barrier
Reef Marine Park Authority.
“Mr Beer practices in
the areas of government advisory and commercial
law, and has extensive experience in business,
legal and corporate advice. With a strong
leadership role in Far North Queensland,
Mr Beer also brings valuable regional business
and community perspectives.”
Melissa George is a
Wulgurukaba woman, whose traditional country
includes Magnetic Island and the greater
Townsville area of North Queensland. Ms
George currently chairs the Indigenous Advisory
Committee, which advises the Environment
Minister under the Environment Protection
and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
She has extensive expertise in cultural
heritage, land and sea management and traditional
owner and Indigenous community issues.
Russell Beer lives in
Cairns and is a partner in a Queensland-wide
law firm. He is currently Chairman of Advance
Cairns, the peak economic development co-ordination
body for Far North Queensland, and is a
former member of the Ministerial Advisory
Council of the Australian Government's Marine
and Tropical Sciences Research Facility.
Ms George has been appointed
for a four-year term and Mr Beer for a three-year
term.
The Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Authority is the principal adviser
to the Government on the care, development
and management of the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park.
+ More
Ban on greenhouse gas
storage in Great Barrier Reef
1 September 2008 - The
protection of the iconic Great Barrier Reef
will be strengthened by banning geosequestration
in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Environment
Peter Garrett and Resources Minister Martin
Ferguson announced today.
The Ministers said mining
and drilling activities had long been prohibited
throughout the Great Barrier Reef World
Heritage Area and new legislative changes
to be introduced into the Senate today will
expand that prohibition to include the geological
storage of carbon dioxide - otherwise known
as geosequestration.
"The Reef is the
world's largest living organism, celebrated
both at home and abroad for its stunning
beauty and international environmental significance,
so it is vital that we protect it now and
into the future, particularly as it struggles
with the impacts of climate change and declining
water quality," Mr Garrett said.
"The new amendments
underline the Government's commitment to
ensuring that the Reef is given the best
possible chance to regain its inbuilt natural
resilience and ability to cope with other
environmental pressures."
Martin Ferguson said
the capture and geological storage of carbon
dioxide was one of a suite of options to
help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but
locations other than the Great Barrier Reef
were more appropriate "Australia is
one of the first countries in the world
to establish a framework to support the
deployment of important technology to help
lower emissions with the Offshore Petroleum
(Greenhouse Gas Storage) Bill 2008.
"We have been very
clear that the Reef is not being considered
for the geological storage of greenhouse
gases. This amendment provides absolute
confidence that activities like mining,
drilling, and geosequestration will not
take place within the Reef."
The amendments to the
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act have
been tabled in the Senate today.
+ More
Minister suspends reef
cove approval
4 September 2008 - Environment
Minister, Peter Garrett has suspended approval
of the Reef Cove Resort development at Queensland’s
False Cape and has ordered the developer
to carry out an environmental audit of the
site.
It is the first time
a federal environment minister has suspended
a project’s approval or directed an environmental
audit under the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
“Following a preliminary
investigation by my department, I’ve decided
to suspend approval of the False Cape project
for a 12-month period because I am concerned
about the threat of sediment run-off into
the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area,”
Mr Garrett said.
“This suspension means
there can be no construction at the site
until I’m satisfied that the developer has
completed the appropriate remediation work
and can complete construction in a responsible
manner and in full compliance with the approval
conditions, without impacting on the marine
environment.
“If I am not satisfied
by the end of this suspension period that
appropriate remediation measures have been
implemented in accordance with the outcomes
of the compliance audit I have the option
under the EPBC Act of suspending the approval
for a further period, or revoking it altogether.
“If revoked, any proposal
for a new development at the site may need
to undergo a new assessment process under
the EPBC Act. This would be likely to require
a new public assessment.”
Mr Garrett said the
directed environmental audit would provide
important information that the Federal Department
of the Environment, Water, Heritage and
the Arts could include in its ongoing investigation.
“In the meantime, my
department will continue to work with the
Cairns Regional Council to address the immediate
concerns at the site and to make the site
stable before the coming wet season.”
+ More
Greener neighbourhoods
a click away
2 September 2008 - A
new interactive web portal, launched today
by Environment Minister Peter Garrett, will
provide urban developers with valuable information,
including fact sheets and national and international
case studies, on the creation of greener
neighbourhoods.
Your Development, produced
in partnership with the CSIRO, will help
shape more sustainable neighbourhoods across
the country, delivering expert and up-to-date
advice for private and public developers,
government agencies, designers, planners
and builders.
Your Development is a unique opportunity
for the urban development industry to share
best practice ideas about the creation of
more sustainable neighbourhoods and get
access to information on topics ranging
from water and energy efficiency to climate
change adaptation and site ecology.
On World Environment
Day this year, I released a report on residential
energy use which estimates a substantial
increase in the number of occupied residential
households in the period 11000 to 2020 and
a 56 per cent increase in energy use in
this sector over the same period.
Better planning and
the smarter use of our natural resources
in the design of our neighbourhoods can
significantly reduce their overall environmental
impact, and Your Development will help ensure
that cost-effective energy and water saving
designs are built-in from the outset.
This is a particularly
exciting project because it encourages us
to take a step back from the scale of single
households and understand the benefits of
energy and water efficiency for whole communities.
The website contains
more than 60 fact sheets available as free
downloads, providing information on all
stages of the development process, from
planning and design through to construction.
Mr Garrett said the
launch of the website came as the Government
continued national roundtables on practical
solutions for households to reduce their
energy use, save on energy bills and make
a real contribution to tackling climate
change, ahead of the Carbon Pollution Reduction
Scheme (CPRS) White Paper.
Later this week in Canberra
I will hold the eighth and final meeting
in a series of roundtable discussions I
have been having across the country with
key energy efficiency stakeholders, including
industry and experts.
The messages coming
through loud and clear from these meetings
so far is that there are plenty of cost-effective
options already available to householders,
landlords and businesses alike to reduce
carbon pollution.
These roundtable discussions
are helping identify the obstacles that
currently exist to the uptake of efficiency
improvements, along with possible solutions.
Your Development is
available at www.yourdevelopment.org
