Queensland Conservation Council

Project Manager 5 October 2000
Port of Brisbane Fisherman Islands Expansion
Projects and Infrastucture Division
Department of State Development
PO Box 168
BRISBANE ALBERT STREET, QLD 4002

Dear Sir

Submission on Draft Impact Assessment Study (IAS) - Fisherman Islands Proposed Port Expansion

The Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) is pleased to make comment on the above draft document which will be made in relation to the Final Terms of Reference for the Impact Assessment Study.

The QCC participated in all stages of the Consultation process and outlined its concerns regarding the proposal in letters to the Proponent. Our concerns about this proposal remain and we feel that in many areas of the Draft IAS these have not been adequately addressed.

The main concern of the QCC is that the Queensland Community is once again being asked to allow the take over and destruction of a large area of Moreton Bay with the promise of greater prosperity for SE Queensland.

The Draft IAS identifies that this proposed extension will be the last and in future a rationalisation of port activities and industry and better ways to use or dispose of the dredged material from Moreton Bay will have to be found. Unfortunately once the perimeter bund wall is completed, expected to be within two years, we will be committed to development that relies on engineering techniques, patterns of trade, economics and science which most of us expect to change considerably over the twenty five year period of this development.

The Queensland Conservation Council would have liked to see a wider examination of the options addressing ways in which development could be both sustainable and able to react to changes in markets and improvements to port and shipping technology. Options for the future sustainable treatment and use of material dredged from shipping channels as well as developing ways of better using the knowledge of the environmental and social values of Moreton Bay, need also to be examined.

The QCC accepts that shipping requires the use of coastal land to allow loading and unloading of cargo. However many activities presently being promoted as "port related" do not, we believe, require coastal land. The development of what in the IAS is referred to as a "Business Park" with "allotments available for corporate headquarters, commercial offices, industrial premises, warehouse, service and retail outlets" we consider inappropriate, especially if it means the destruction and alienation of marine habitat.

Attached is a summary of the comments from the Queensland Conservation Council in relation to the Draft IAS. We would be pleased to discuss any of these further with you or the proponents.

Yours faithfully

signed

Felicity Wishart
QCC Coordinator

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