JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com ) – Queensland’s minerals and energy sector has applauded the announcement of a major state government campaign to promote the facts surrounding the management and protection of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said on Sunday.

QRC CE Michael Roche said that it was time for a line to be drawn in the sand as activists were "trashing Queensland’s reputation".

“The Great Barrier Reef is being used as a Trojan horse because of its World Heritage status, and the anti-mining activists’ relentless demonisation of essential dredging at trading ports along the Queensland coast not only ignores scientific evidence, but also threatens the future viability of resource sector industries supporting more than 400 000 Queensland jobs,” he said.

Roche stressed that the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park had, from the start, been a multi-use zone, with 11 commercial trading ports incorporated in the Great Barrier Reef's World Heritage listing in 1981. Those 11 ports included the coal export ports of Abbot Point, Hay Point and Gladstone.

Roche further pointed out that Queensland’s exports of minerals and energy were forecast to earn $35-billion in 2014, not including the scheduled start of liquefied natural gas shipments from Gladstone later this year.

“Three of Queensland’s economic pillars – resources, agriculture and tourism – have worked with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority for almost 40 years with the goal of environmentally sustainable development. As a result, the Great Barrier Reef is the best managed World Heritage marine environment in the world,” he claimed.

Roche acknowledged that the reef had challenges, as was spelled out in a 2012 report by the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the 2013 Reef Consensus Statement by 50 of the world’s leading marine scientists.

“These reports are consistent with all that has gone before. Port developments and shipping numbers have never been linked to coral loss or a decline in the environmental health of the Great Barrier Reef.

“These are the facts, and we are pleased to support the state government in promoting them on behalf of all Queenslanders, and particularly the 1.1-million who live and work alongside the Great Barrier Reef,” he said.