^.AUSTRALIAN

PRIME MINISTER

FOR MEDIA .  SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15 1981

ELECTORATE TALK

The -Commonwealth Government took the decision to proceed without  further delay towards proclamation of the Cairns section of .  .  the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park after about two years of  'discussion and negotiation with the Queensland government

about the boundaries. We felt that it was time for decisions 1   to be made and I had indicated earlier in the year that the  Commonwealth's patience was not inexhaustible.

The proclamation of the Cairns section will open the way  to the development of management and zoning arrangements by  the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and I hope  Queenslanders will be very much involved in the planning of

these arrangements. In developing this plan, the Authority  will be seeking public subsmissionsy and a draft will be  published in due course for further public comment. The management  and zoning arrangements will be designed to protect the Reef,

and as with the Capricornia section, there will be perfectly  satisfactory provision for recreation,  shipping, touring,   commercial and amateur fishing and other activities.  .

The proclamation of the Cairns section will be a further  significant step in the strategy of progressive proclamation  of the various sections of the whole Great Barrier Reef Marine  Park. Since 1975, the whole of the Reef has been protected by -

the Commonwealth Government under the Great Barrier Reef Marine  Park Act. The strategy of proclamation by sections provides scope  for effective and realistic planning, and enables the Authority '   to take account of the special requirements of each particular

section of an enormous marine park area. ,

The planning itself takes time - eighteen months to two years  in the case of the Capricornia section - and the further delays  caused by this part of the whole process makes it even more Â« —   important that the decision to proclaim the Cairns section

should be taken now.

The selection of the boundaries of the Cairns section of the marine park has been made only after the most careful_consideration of alternatives by the Government and by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The only point at issue was whether

the western boundary along the 550 kilometre coastline should be the lo'  water, mark on the mainland or a line some distance off the coast. And in the event, the actual area in dispute affects only 30% of  that 550 kilometre coastline.

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The Commonwealth Government has taken the view that this  boundary would go .out five kilometres from the coast for  about two thirds of its length,  but that th'e low water mark '   on the mainland must form the boundary where features of

ecological significance are involved, and some of these areas  which need protection right up to the low water mark are  adjacent to land areas that Queensland has itself designated  as national park. Among the ecological features included  will be the sea grass beds north of Cape Flattery, which are .

an important habitat for Dugong - an internationally  recognised endangered species, and high quality reefs fringing  the mainland and islands. The marine park concept and the way  it is being implemented will ensure the conservation, of the. Reef  ecosystem. '  '  ” ...

The decision that has been made is a reasonable one, and it  takes account of all the interests and issues involved. It is  h decision which deserved the support of the whole community  and the concern for the Reef which all Australians share will

now be best served if all parties work together to get the right  management arrangements into operation.

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