There have been a lot of posters and banners being slung around the streets of Brisbane proclaiming that “Mining equals death to the Reef”

While this is a catchy slogan unfortunately it does not do justice to the complexity and the enormity of saving one of Australia’s great natural treasures.

Hogsback along with most of the population thinks it would be a travesty to allow the Reef to be ruined. Watching David Attenborough’s recent documentary on the Reef has left The Hog spell bound at the diversity and colour that extends for more than 1000km along the Queensland coast.

Many Queensland coal miners spend their hard earned holidays snorkeling and diving on the Reef, or sailing and fishing around the Whitsundays. They would be the last people to want to promote its destruction.

There has been concern about a plague crown-of-thorn starfish that have been very destructive of coral.

This blight on the Reef is believed to be caused in part by the run off fertilisers from farming that leads to changes in the nutrients in the water.

Another theory as to why the coral is turning a ghostly white colour is an increase in the temperature of the water due to global warming.

Australia produces less than 2% of global emissions from across agriculture, forestry, transport, power generation and industry.

So our contribution to the warming of oceans that is believed to be the bleaching of coral up and down the Reef cannot be laid on the feet of the local coal mining industry.

If anything, Australia’s abundant supply of clean coal is part of the solution.

A key focus of the Queensland Government’s Reef 2050 plan is to improve water quality, which will increase the reef’s resilience in the medium term, while global efforts work to reduce climate change over the longer term.

“Australian coal is amongst the highest quality coal in the world, helping to power cleaner, more efficient power plants. And let’s not forget, coal is used to make coke, an essential element, for which there is no substitute, in the steel making process,” according to the Queensland Resources Council.

“Without coal, we would not have anything made from steel, nor would we be able to power homes and businesses. The Greens are quick to forget that when the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing, not only do the products from the resources sector make up components of renewables, coal provides the back-up power to keep us out of the dark.”

The Great Barrier Reef bleaching event is a sign that regardless of agendas, all industries, governments and organisations must work together to reduce impacts upon the reef, the QRC said.

Experts say that the healthier the Reef, the greater the protection against the three great threats of water quality, the crown of thorns starfish, and bleaching.

Let’s have a healthy coal mining industry next to a healthy Reef. The two are not mutually exclusive.