Residents of the State of Queensland draw to the attention of the House the need to protect the reputation of Cairns as a clean, green nature tourism destination by not allowing the Port of Cairns to be listed as a "priority port" under the Sustainable Ports Development Bill (SPD Bill) 2015. Making Cairns a priority port would allow unlimited capital dredging for port expansion and risks turning Cairns into an industrial mega-port. The case for priority port status does not add up, Cairns is not and never should be a large bulk commodity port like Gladstone or Townsville. This would send the wrong message to potential tourism visitors, and could have negative impacts on the economy. The SPD Bill is part of Australia and Queensland's commitment to UNESCO to limit port expansions and new dredging alongside the Great Barrier Reef, we must honour that promise and protect the Reef for the sake of our economy, environment and future generations.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House not to amend the Sustainable Ports Development Bill 2015 to include the port of Cairns or Mourilyan as priority ports, or make any other amendment which would increase the amount of dredging and inappropriate development from what is already allowed under the Bill.