A BILL to outlaw new ports on the Great Barrier Reef will be introduced by the Greens in parliament in Canberra on Wednesday.
Queensland Senator Larissa Waters said she would introduce the bill to make law the recommendations of UNESCO, after the international regulator visited Australia last year.
It also aimed to prevent any shipping of uranium mined in Queensland through the reef, after Queensland Mining Minister Andrew Cripps said the shipping proposal could be on the table.
While the bill was intended to enforce the UN recommendations, it would go further than some recommendations.
It also did not acknowledge work already completed by the federal government in addressing the UNESCO concerns.
Senator Waters said the federal government had approved an expansion of Abbot Point near Bowen, and was not acting to adopt World Heritage Committee recommendations.
While the bill was unlikely to get wider support outside of the Greens party, Senator Waters said there was still time to prevent the reef being added to the WHC heritage sites in danger list, when the committee meets in late June.
