A Call To Protect The Great Barrier Reef

Please sign the petition if you believe our reef should be protected.

The countdown is on. In just two weeks, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will make the final call on whether to allow millions of tonnes of toxic dredge spoil to be dumped in Reef waters. 

Environment Minister Greg Hunt has already given his approval, and now the Reef Authority is the last group who can stand up to the mining industry and protect our Reef from this dangerous project. 

This Friday, GetUp members will be hand-delivering a giant petition to the Reef Authority in Townsville, urging them to reject the proposal for good. Click here to add your name and make sure your voice is heard on Friday: 

http://www.getup.org.au/reject-this-project 

We already know what dredging can do to our Reef. Just this week, Minister Hunt ordered an inquiry into the dredging project at Gladstone Harbour. As The Australian reported, it "coincided with mass deaths of fish, turtles, dolphins and dugongs inside the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area."¹ 

This project would make way for the world's largest coal port at Abbot Point, turning our Reef into a coal shipping superhighway. To help imagine the sheer scale of it, the dredge spoil they plan to dump in Reef waters could fill 150,000 dump trucks, enough to line up bumper to bumper from Brisbane to Melbourne.² 

Under immense community pressure, the Reef Authority has already delayed their decision once - but Federal legislation means they can't delay it again. With exactly one week until the decision deadline, this Friday's event will be a timely reminder that the world is closely watching their next move. The more people who add their name to the petition, the more pressure decision-makers will be under to stand up for our Reef. 

Click here to sign your name in support of protecting the Reef, and we'll hand-deliver it straight to the Reef Authority: http://www.getup.org.au/reject-this-project 

Our iconic Reef is one of the natural wonders of the world, and it's up to us to protect it for future generations. 

Thanks for everything, 

the GetUp team. 

[1] Greg Hunt orders inquiry into reef dredging project. The Australian. 20th January 2014. 
[2] Has the Great Barrier Reef just been approved for destruction by the Australian government? The Guardian, 19th December 2013.