Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I want to talk about shipping from Weipa to Gladstone carried out by the Rio Tinto Alcan company. There is a study underway, and recommendations will eventually be handed down, on future shipping activities conducted where the ships pass through or outside the Great Barrier Reef. I am a strong advocate that no changes be made, especially to the shipping routes that are currently used by Rio Tinto ships in transporting bauxite from Weipa to Gladstone.

I think that there are threats to the reef. The greatest is the crown-of-thorns starfish, which has been around for a long time and does a lot of damage to the reef. It seems to come and go, but it is always present and always doing damage to the reef. Another threat to the reef is ballast water that comes in on overseas ships. We do not really know what is in that ballast water, which is discharged before the ship is loaded with coal, wheat, aluminium or whatever. So the ballast water is a concern to me and to the authorities—what is in the ballast water, where it ends up and what unknown or foreign bodies come in with that water. Of course, toxic fresh water from the land is always an issue, but in the last 10 to 20 years the irrigation farmers inland have really cleaned their act up and now most of that water, except in extreme flood conditions, is contained on the farm itself, so it does not go into waterways and the reef areas.

But I would like to point out some facts about QAL and its operations from Weipa to Gladstone. They employ over 4,000 people and contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries and wages, $10 million in royalties and $6.5 million in community investments each year. Shipping is central to the Rio Tinto aluminium supply chain and, as such, represents a large proportion of the cost borne by the integrated businesses in and around the aluminium business. Rio Tinto has safely utilised the inner Great Barrier Reef route to transport bauxite from Weipa to Gladstone for 50 years, and there has not been a major incident. I think it is worthwhile to repeat that: 50 years without a major incident. The company is to be congratulated for its safety record.

Rio Tinto bauxite shipments are one of the few shipping activities of the region that traverse the full length of the Barrier Reef. They go from top to bottom and much further. Rio Tinto maintain a very modern fleet. In fact, there is a no ship older than 4½ years. The last ship that we have was built in late 2007 and commissioned some time thereafter. The ships are Australian owned and crewed by Australian seamen. All vessels that operate or are chartered on the route are vetted by RightShip to ensure that they meet the high standards of vessels, conditions and crew competency and conform to Australian and international shipping standards.

They do a great job, and business is increasing by 1.4 per cent per annum. Weipa to Gladstone now represent more than 25 per cent of Australian coastal trade by volume. Rio Tinto shipping operations have been fully assessed and approved under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity and Conservation Act—possibly the only shipping operations in the country to do so. In 2012, Rio Tinto, the CSIRO and the foundation put a million dollars into investigating the life of the reef. It is because of these ongoing investigations and monitoring that I can assure the people of this House that the Barrier Reef is well looked after by Rio Tinto and its support agencies.