Policy context for the review

Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan

To ensure the ongoing protection of the Great Barrier Reef’s outstanding universal value, the Australian and Queensland governments introduced the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan (Reef 2050 Plan) in 2015.

The Reef 2050 Plan was updated in 2018 and 2021 to ensure it continues to address emerging issues, integrates latest knowledge and science, and focuses on the right priorities and actions to help protect the Great Barrier Reef.

The Reef 2050 Plan guides governments, key sectors, and individuals on actions they can take to improve the Great Barrier Reef’s future. Over $5 billion has been committed by the Australian and Queensland governments and Reef 2050 Plan partners to deliver actions under the Plan from 2014–2030.

The Australian and Queensland governments have delivered port-related Reef 2050 Plan actions since the plan was released in 2015. This includes development of the Maintenance Dredging Strategy for Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Ports (the Strategy) to guide sustainable, leading practice management of maintenance dredging. There has also been significant regulatory reform, including the:

• Sustainable Ports Development Act 2015 which:
• restricts new port development in and adjoining the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to within current port limits and outside Commonwealth and state marine parks
• prohibits capital dredging in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area outside the priority ports of Gladstone, Townsville, Hay Point/Mackay and Abbot Point, and limits capital dredging for the Port of Cairns
• prohibits sea-based placement of port-related capital dredged material within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area
• mandates master planning for priority ports
• Environmental Protection (Transhipping Activities) Amendment Regulation 2020, which:
• requires an environmental authority for transhipping in Queensland waters
• prohibits transhipping of bulk materials where it occurs:
• partly or wholly within the waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• outside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, but within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, unless within port boundaries.

Under the Sustainable Ports Development Act 2015, the priority port master planning process includes the development of an environmental management framework for each priority port. The environmental management framework identifies environmental values in the priority port master planned areas, identifies any potential impacts of future development on these environmental values, and states the objectives and measures for managing the potential impacts. Master plans have been finalised for the priority ports of:

• Gladstone
• Townsville
• Hay Point/Mackay
• Abbot Point.

Associated with the regulatory reforms, the Queensland Government also developed the Priority Ports Master Planning Guideline.

There are also several other initiatives delivered by other government agencies, as well as the ports industry, to improve water quality, and maintain and enhance the Great Barrier Reef’s outstanding universal value. Further information on the suite of actions and their implementation is available on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water's website.

Information on progress in implementing the Reef 2050 Plan is provided in the Reef 2050 Plan Annual Reports and the Great Barrier Reef Progress Report. In addition, the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2019 and the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan provides further information on the management of port-related impacts on the Reef.

At the time of inscription as a World Heritage property in 1981 there were long-established port areas operating with the Great Barrier Reef. Queensland’s port sector has been an active partner managing the Great Barrier Reef for many years, including through the delivery of the Reef 2050 Plan. Queensland Ports Association is a member of the Reef 2050 Advisory Committee, which meets regularly to provide strategic advice on the implementation of actions, stakeholder priorities and other emerging issues. The maintained focus on an integrated approach to ports planning and management has been recognised in the Reef Authority's Outlook Reports and the Australian Government's report to the World Heritage Committee.

Maintenance Dredging Strategy for Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Ports

The Maintenance Dredging Strategy for Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Ports (the Strategy) was released by the Queensland Government Department of Transport and Main Roads in 2016, meeting an important commitment and key action under the first Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan (Reef 2050 Plan) in 2015.

The Strategy was based on the findings of a Technical Supporting Document developed to provide a scientific and technical evidence basis for the guiding principles and actions of the Strategy. The Technical Supporting Document drew on a review of published research, scientific data, technical reports, information provided by the port industry and regulators, the findings of relevant Great Barrier Reef Strategic Assessments and Outlook Reports, and experiences associated with maintenance dredging elsewhere in Australia and internationally. The Technical Supporting Document:

• identifies historical dredging volumes at each port, likely future requirements and any dredging volume limits
• identifies appropriate environmental windows to avoid coral spawning, seagrass recruitment, turtle breeding and weather events
• examines opportunities for the beneficial reuse of dredged material or on-land placement from maintenance activities
• establishes requirements for risk-based monitoring programs.

The aim of the Strategy is to provide a framework for sustainable, leading practice management of maintenance dredging at ports in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The objective of the framework is to build on the current strong regulatory requirements and ensure the ongoing protection of the Reef's values and the continued operating efficiency of ports within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

From this framework, the Strategy set out 17 principles and 5 actions to be adopted to ensure maintenance dredging continues in an environmentally sustainable manner and provides efficient navigation within Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area ports. The key guiding principles and actions in the Strategy prescribed greater coordination, efficiency, and effectiveness of maintenance dredging activities.

These principles and actions are underpinned by the Reef 2050 Plan decision-making principles which are to be considered in the management and protection of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. These principles have remained in place for decision-makers since the Reef 2050 Plan’s inception in 2015:

• maintaining and protecting Outstanding Universal Value in every action
• basing decisions on the best available science
• delivering a net benefit to the ecosystem
• adopting a partnership approach to management.

The Strategy outlines how the ports industry, regulators and the community could work together to ensure maintenance dredging is undertaken in a manner that protects the Great Barrier Reef’s values, health, and resilience.