SARAH CLARKE, REPORTER:
50km west of Townsville is home to the Ben Lomond uranium mine. It may not look like much now but when it starts extracting ore, the company says it will deliver one of the highest grade resources in Australia. David Sewell was living here the last time the mine was in operation more than 30 years ago. In 1981, an overflow from one of the tailings dams triggered a spill where unacceptable levels of radioactivity were found in a tributary that feeds the region's biggest river, the Burdekin. He has concerns it will happen again.
DAVID SEWELL, Townsville Resident:
Excessively high levels of radium in the water is not too good.
SARAH CLARKE:
With three uranium mines across Queensland now cleared to reopen, the State Government hasn't ruled out making Townsville the first licensed uranium port on the east coast.
ANDREW CRIPPS, Qld Mines Minister:
A case would have to be made for the costs of licensing a new port in Queensland.
SARAH CLARKE:
Adelaide and Darwin are the only licensed uranium ports now. But Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke says he would consider an application for an east coast port.
TONY BURKE, Federal Environment Minister:
What I'd have to say is we'd deal with it according to law and legally, I can't offer more than that.
SARAH CLARKE:
If Townsville was given the go-ahead, uranium would be transported from the mine through the city to the port, where it's then shipped through the reef. That rings alarm bells for the advisory body to the UN's World Heritage Committee. It's told the ABC this would be a 'new threat to the Great Barrier Reef' and a 'surprising activity to find in any natural World Heritage site'.
Vision of Tim Badman, IUCN, Advisory to the World Heritage Committee
SARAH CLARKE:
UNESCO will decide in June if it will put the reef on the 'in Danger' list. The advisory body to the World Heritage Committee says this uranium proposal adds new questions which it now must consider. Well, the amount of development along the Queensland coast is not slowing down. That's raised concerns from UNESCO which next month will decide if it will put the Great Barrier Reef on the 'in Danger' list. I spoke to the Chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Dr Russell Reichelt, about that report and on whether or not he's happy with the amount of development near the World Heritage site. Dr Russell Reichelt, thanks for joining us. Are you concerned about the rate of development along the Queensland coast which skirts the Great Barrier Reef?
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:, Marine Park Authority Chairman
No, I'm not happy with it. I think the history of land clearing for 100-plus years, the impact of the massive storms we've had which were a one-in-100-year type event but five in a row in the last five years, the crown-of-thorns starfish, the reef is under pressure, it's depleted of coral along the southern two-thirds. So it's a system under some pressure.
SARAH CLARKE:
UNESCO meets in June, are you concerned that they're going to remove the reef's World Heritage status?
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:
I think it would be wrong to judge the whole system as in danger. It's a system under pressure but it retains all of the outstanding universal value for which it was listed and it has people along the coast — it had them in 1981 when it was listed — but the thing of concern to me is the accumulating pressures of expansion of activity and we need to be very clear on how we're managing that and for instance, with ports, they should strive for zero footprint. They should remain within their port area and the conduct of shipping to and from those ports needs to be totally safe with no incidents.
SARAH CLARKE:
With the amount of shipping movements only set to increase, what guidelines need to be put in place to best monitor the amount of movement through and around the reef?
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:
The North-East Australian Shipping Plan that's being developed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority will address the safety of shipping in the reef region. I think we currently have the highest standards of shipping management in the world. We're classified as a particularly sensitive sea area under the International Treaty so we have pilots, we have a tracking system called a Vessel Traffic Service and we have mandatory reporting. There is a lot in place now but I'm also a strong advocate of 'Don't be complacent'. Wherever we can step up shipping safety, perhaps we might look at one-way channels. We might look at reducing the number of vessels in parking areas off the ports. So there are some things we can still be looking at.
SARAH CLARKE:
What about penalties? Should there be penalties for non-compliance?
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:
There's serious penalties for deviating from the, what we call the designated shipping areas which again is a feature of this international treaty. The ships cannot take shortcuts through the reef. And the penalties for crashing into the reef are significant as we saw with the conviction of the captain of the Shen Neng.
SARAH CLARKE:
Do shipping routes need to change?
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:
I think we should keep open whether we can be smarter on where ships go. I think some of the areas in the southern have been considered for redirection. So it's a possible response, but I would say that shipping is an important issue and of risk. By far, the greater risk is the quality of water running off the land so putting it in perspective, I would put the reef rescue program as the most critical response we can be making to look after the reef.
SARAH CLARKE:
The Queensland Government hasn't ruled out exporting uranium out of a Queensland port, potentially Townsville, are you concerned about that?
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:
I think shipping of any toxic cargo would be of concern but, really, we'd have to see a proposal and we would have to consider that. It would be considered first under national environmental law by the federal minister. So I would be waiting to see what is proposed.
SARAH CLARKE:
Does uranium ring alarm bells?
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:
We're concerned about shipping of any hazardous or noxious substance and so we would take it very seriously.
SARAH CLARKE:
What's the worst-case scenario that you could expect out of the UNESCO findings and then meeting in June?
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:
I would like the committee to consider their recent report and the assessment of very high standards of management in the reef, the scale and the complexity, I think, exceeds by far the coastal pressures in terms of maintaining our values and World Heritage status. I don't think it warrants World Heritage in Danger listing but I do expect them to draw a lot of focus on the forward planning for great expansions in some of these coastal areas and I would share their concerns of unconstrained developments that do run the risk in the future of putting the World Heritage values in danger.
SARAH CLARKE:
Dr Reichelt, thank you very much for joining us.
DR RUSSELL REICHELT:
Thank you.