Marine Queensland has today expressed serious concerns with the handling of the Bio-Regional Planning Process (including the Coral Sea) by Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett.

“It has significant similarities with the home insulation debacle” said Don Jones, General Manager of Marine Queensland.

“An independent assessment of the science used by the Department of Environment justifying the Coral Sea Declaration by Minister Garrett has been shown to be fundamentally flawed.

“There is no debate about the need to protect the environment – just as there was no debate about the benefits of home insulation.

“What is critical is the ability of the Department of Environment to engage key stakeholders to enable sophisticated management measures to be developed for these pristine marine environments.

“This process is on the verge of significantly impacting regional communities and the Marine Industry.

“The poor handling of this process is an accident in progress.

“Marine Queensland is calling for the immediate halting of the process and for a Royal Commission to be launched into the integrity of the process.”