Green groups slam govt reef strategy

GREEN groups have slammed the Queensland government's draft strategy for development near the Great Barrier Reef, saying it flouts United Nations guidelines.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney tabled the draft 10-year Great Barrier Reef Ports Strategy in parliament on Wednesday.

It proposes to have fewer, but larger ports.

Expansion will be allowed at five sites in or adjoining the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, while significant development at other sites is to be restricted.

Mr Seeney says the draft plan balances environmental protection with economic prosperity, but green groups say it flies in the face of recommendations by the UN's environmental arm.

The Australian Greens say two of the areas earmarked for development - Port Alma and the north of Curtis Island - were supposed to be protected.

"The selective reading of the UNESCO's recommendations for the survival of the Great Barrier Reef is a disgrace," Greens Senator Larissa Waters said in a statement.

"...(It) invites UNESCO to follow through on their warning that the reef will be listed as 'World Heritage In Danger'."

The Australian Marine Conservation Society said the government's strategy would pave the way for "massive, unprecedented and extraordinary industrialisation" along the Queensland coast.

AMCS director Darren Kindleysides said the Newman government was thumbing its nose at UNESCO.

"The state government must rethink its development at all costs approach, or risk wrecking the future of the Great Barrier Reef and the six billion dollar tourism industry it supports," he said in a statement.

WWF Australia said the plan puts the government on a collision course with UNESCO.

Spokesman Richard Leck said it paves the way for a Gladstone-to-Rockhampton "mega-port".

"The last thing Queenslanders want to see for the Great Barrier Reef is the type of massive, unfettered development that occurred in Gladstone Harbour being repeated along the coast," he said in a statement.

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