Australia: DO NOT Dredge the Great Barrier Reef, Greg Hunt, you greedy bastard!

Last week, Environment Minister Greg Hunt caved to mining interests and approved the dredging and dumping of 3 million cubic metres of seabed in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area at Abbot Point.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) still has to issue a permit to allow the dumping to occur in the Marine Park. They  said they will make a decision within ten days.

Minister Hunt has approved the project without even knowing where the dumping will occur. Without knowing where the dump site is, there is no way the environmental impact on the Reef and its fragile ecosystem can be accurately assessed. As protectors of the Reef, we must put pressure on our Indpendent Reef Authority to not greenlight dumping toxic sludge in our Reef water.

A message from my friend,  Gabby Shaw, who is an active lobbyist on this issue: 

On the 31st of January the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) will decide whether to allow 3 million cubic metres of dredge spoil to be dumped in the Reef’s waters. Together, we have sent over 70,000 letters and emails to their office and made thousands of calls to urge GBRMPA not to dump on our Reef.

This Friday – one week out from the looming decision – we are taking the community’s message to GBRMPA. A representative from the tourism industry will meet with General Manager Bruce Elliott to present a petition and urge him to refuse the sea-dumping permit for Abbot Point.

Join us in Townsville this Friday outside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s office to show that you don’t support dumping in Reef.

We will be joined by supporters of Fight for the Reef campaign, Getup!, North Queensland Conservation Council, Abbot Point Action Group, and key tourism operators. We are the voice of the Great Barrier Reef – together we can remind GBRMPA it’s their job to protect our international icon.

What: Stand for the Reef
When: 9:30 am Friday 24th January
Where: GBRMPA offices, 2-68 Flinders Street Townsville QLD
RSVP: Please contact cherrymuddle@amcs.org.au for transport from the Whitsundays

 message from Cecilia: 

Dear Gabby and Friends of “fight for the Reef Campaign”,

It seemed like only yesterday that I was swimming with Gabby on the Great Barrier Reef for one of our sailing trips or  day trip to an island resort via Sea-plane. Memories of being part of our great Australian nature, is what makes all of us  Australian. It doesn’t matter whether Gabby and I are both Melbournians, we have a vested interest in protecting our  wonderful waters, air, beach and land from the greedy oppression of Multinationals seeking to violate and pillage our natural resources.

It was a few years ago since I had the leisure to enjoy the pleasures of the Great Barrier Reef. But swimming with the many fishes and marine life at the Reef was one of those “Rites of Passage” in completing my high school years. It was a reward for getting into one of Australia’s top G8 universities. I am very sad that those who were alumnis with me, who are now running the Australian government, do not share the same passion for protecting our Australian heritage. I am disgusted with them.

I hope many of my fellow alumnis around the world (at Monash alone there are a few million around the globe!) will also feel the same sense of outrage as I did when I heard from my dear friend, that this is what Australian politics were reduced to; desperate, ill-informed and pandering to corporate greed in times of global economic depression. This is NOT the spirit of what makes us all Australian, regardless of our color, creed, gender or personal beliefs. This is what makes us “Sell-out” to the nature loving, rebellious spirit of Australia.

I am thoroughly disgusted. In my interview in 2008 for the Monash Faculty Curriculum, I was pictured with one of my art work in the background as the interviwer questioned me about “What were my inspirations (apart from a Monash education)?” and I unequivocally said, “While I appreciate my lecturers and professors at Monash, ultimately, my sense of color and palette will always always be influenced by the Great Australia untamed nature, places like the Great Barrier Reef, Central Australia Desert and the Blue Mountains.”

As my Creative careers progress, I would hate to give interviews in the future with statements like,”While all my color palette were strongly influenced by growing up in Australia and seeing places like the Great Barrier Reef, it is unfortunate that my paintings preserve what is now a desolate environmental wasteland of what was once our greatest national treasures….simply because politicians like Tony Abbott, the Welsh-born Julia Gilliard and other  ill-informed Ministers like Hunt, did not bother to comprehend what it means to protect our delicate and sensitive natural heritage from their short-term goals of satisfying corporate shareholders. I am very sorry. You can only see these great colors and nature in photographs, documentaries and paintings but not i n real life anymore.”

That interview with Monash was printed and distributed to 8million copies around the world as part of the Monash Student Prospectus.

This would make me extremely sad and I am so sorry I cannot be with everyone in Townsville, but you have my equivocal support and please: “Keep the Bastards, Honest! Keep them off the source of Artistic Inspiration for countless generations of Artists (be they Australian or from a different planet! 🙂  I send my love to you all for your courage and your compassions in vehemently opposing the greedy collaboration of individuals like  Mr.Greg. Hunt, for many reasons including the fact that his decision is promoting a culture of greed in Australia.

love to you all. Cecilia.

Can you take a few moments to email GBRMPA and demand that no dumping be approved before knowing exactly how it’ll impact our Reef?  (from the website: Get Up! Action for Australia email to object to dredging )

There are some points you might like to include below. But the more you can put your concerns into your own words, the more powerful they’ll be.

GBRMPA is the Australian Government agency that manages the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Their fundamental obligation is to protect the Reef by ensuring that all human uses are ecologically sustainable and that ecosystem function and resilience is maintained.

• Minister Hunt’s recent decision to dredge and dump 3 million cubic meters of sea bed in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area at Abbot Point is worrying.
• You understand that GBRMPA is about to make a decision whether or not to grant the permit to dump the toxic sludge into the marine park.

• You urge GBRMPA, as the guardians of our reef, to reject this permit and ensure that the Reef is protected for future generations. The Great Barrier Reef should not be a dumping ground for industry.
• You are worried that the Minister has granted permission to dump in the reef, even though the specific location in which dumping can occur remains open to further investigation. If GBRMPA does not know the specific dump site then it is surely impossible for you to scientifically identify the implications for the Reef and therefore you must reject this permit.
• Tourism from the reef is worth $6.4 billion and creates 64,000 jobs.

Lol. If you don’t know what is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, here: Wikipedia Link for Dummies

2 comments on “Australia: DO NOT Dredge the Great Barrier Reef, Greg Hunt, you greedy bastard!”

1. Dianne

   April 12, 2014

   

   This is an attractive website. your web site is an accession of not fort profits, taking it beyond social capital and monetary limits to assert that there are more values than just survival of the fittest and dog-eat-dog.

   LikeLike

   Reply
   • ceciliawyu

     April 13, 2014

     

     Thank you. I enjoyed your music blog too. I don’t know much about music. Thank you for your kind words. X Cecilia

     LikeLike

     Reply

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