Military games off Great Barrier Reef

In mid June 2007, Australia will host the largest military exercises ever undertaken in peacetime - Talisman Saber 2007 involving 12,400 Australian and 13,700 US troops converging on various locations for their biennial “war games”. These exercises are conducted biennially in Australia with the United States.

The heart of the exercise will take place in Shoalwater Bay, Queensland, not only breathtakingly beautiful but home to the largest dugong population in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park World Heritage Area. This sanctuary is declared as a category ‘A’ and it is considered crucial to the stabilisation and recovery of local dugong numbers. The region also supports nesting sites for green turtles, critical feeding areas for turtles and dugongs and is also home to 26 species of dolphins and whales including humpbacks.

In 2005, the Australian government entered an agreement that provided the US long-term access to, and joint use of, Shoalwater Bay Training Area. This agreement ties Australia to the rapid military build-up taking place in the north-west Pacific, particularly in Guam. The Talisman Sabre exercise is a result of this agreement and is one of the Pentagon’s largest and most important training areas and bombing ranges in the Asia-Pacific region. There has been no disclosure of the terms of these agreements or what weaponry will be used in military exercises but include live firing and bombing, underwater detonations, the latest laser guided missiles and “smart” bombs, ship to shore bombing runs, bombing from US bases in Guam, land-based artillery firings, nuclear powered submarines using high-level sonar frequency and nuclear weapons capable vessels and planes. The field training portion of Talisman Saber 2007 will be conducted 19 June – 2 July with force preparation and deployment of forces 12 -18 June.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands that stretch for 2,600 kilometres. It can be seen from outer space and is also labelled as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Please email the Minister for Environment, the Honourable Lindy Nelson-Carr, asking why these exercises are allowed to take place in an area is of vital importance to many endangered species and critical habitats.