Dear Prime Minister

The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the northeast coast of Australia. It contains the worlds largest collection of coral reefs,
with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc. It also
holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong and
the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction.
The Great Barrier Reef, and in particular the northern sector, is important in the
historic and contemporary culture of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
groups of the coastal areas of north-east Australia. There is a strong spiritual
connection with the ocean and its inhabitants.
The Great Barrier Reef will be so degraded by warming waters that it will be
unrecognizable within 20 years, according Charlie Veron, former chief scientist of
the Australian Institute of Marine Science, at a conference in London: The Great
Barrier Reef will be over within 20 years or so. They would be the worlds first
global ecosystem to collapse. I have the backing of every coral reef scientist,
every research organization.
After being a highly successful life form for 250 million years, disruptions in the
biological and communication systems of coral reefs have been found to be the
underlying cause of the coral bleaching and collapse of reef ecosystems around
the world.
Coral reefs form the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms,
Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which is visible from outer space. The reef is
composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over
3,000 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres.
They are being pressured by changes in ocean temperature, pollution,
overfishing, sedimentation, acidification, oxidative stress and disease, and the
synergistic effect of some of these problems may destroy reefs even when one
cause by itself would not. Some estimates have suggested 20 percent of the
world's coral reefs are already dead and an additional 24 percent are gravely
threatened.
In December of last year, your Environment Minister Greg Hunt gave the goahead to the Abbot Point coal terminal expansion at Bowen in north Queensland.
Millions of cubic metres of soil must be dredged and dumped near the reef for
the coal port to be constructed.
The best available science makes it very clear that expansion of the port at
Abbot Point will have detrimental effects on the Great Barrier Reef. Sediment
from dredging can smother corals and seagrasses and expose them to poisons
and elevated nutrients. Dredging sediment smothers corals, exposes them to
poisons and reduces photosynthesis.
If the water is not clear, if it's turbid through too much sediment it cuts down on
the amount of light and reduces the amount of growth and health of those corals.
Research from Gladstone shows dredge spoil moves much further than
previously thought. A paper came out in 2012 that showed plumes of sediment
can reach the Great Barrier Reef quite easily.

The actions of your government and corporate lobbyists puts this natural wonder
at a further risk. I implore that you look at the situation logically and with long
term consequences in mind. Your government and the Australian people have
more to lose if you go ahead with this treacherously senseless plan. The people
of Australia wont take the decision lying down, I can guarantee that.
Yours faithfully,
A concerned citizen