Hinchinbrook - dugongs and reef

	Hinchinbrook Island

Situated at the junction of the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Areas, Hinchinbrook Island and Channel were protected as World Heritage in 1981. Keith Williams' Oyster Point development threatens the World Heritage listed Hinchinbrook Channel and the endangered dugongs it supports.

The Wilderness Society has campaigned for a decade for the protection of Hinchinbrook Island and Channel from inappropriate coastal development, including the Port Hinchinbrook development.

This stance was publicly recognised by management authorities with the release of the 1999 Hinchinbrook Island Management Plan. The Plan put a clear focus for the management of the Island on the protection of its wilderness and World Heritage values. As well, the Plan clearly states that the large Port Hinchinbrook development will have an impact on Hinchinbrook Island National Park.

The 1999 Senate Inquiry report into "Hinchinbrook Channel" and Port Hinchinbrook development also concluded that the development posed a serious environmental threat to the surrounding area, and that successive governments had failed to ensure that the development has been subjected to adequate assessments on either environmental or economic grounds.