Bligh, Springborg sniping over oil spill response
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Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg has continued his attack on the State Government's response to an oil spill that has wreaked havoc on beaches in south-east Queensland.
Mr Springborg says the Queensland Government took too long to find out the full extent of the damage after the Pacific Adventurer was damaged on Wednesday.
A container pierced the Pacific Adventurer's hull in rough seas on Wednesday, causing the leak which has spread to 60 kilometres of Queensland's coastline.
Moreton and Bribie Island and southern parts of the Sunshine Coast have been declared disaster zones.
Mr Springborg took to the hustings on the Sunshine Coast this morning, stopping at an oil-affected Kawana beach to continue his attack on the Government's response to the spill.
"They didn't go out and have a look for themselves," he said.
"The reason they didn't go and have a look for themselves was they thought it would be all washed out to sea.
"There was no television cameras around, there was no publicity opportunities, it wasn't until it turned up on the beaches - which it shouldn't have got to that - they started to even recognise they had a problem."
Ms Bligh says it is up to others to judge if the oil disaster will cost her votes in next weekend's state election, but she has rejected the accusations that the Government was too slow to react.
"Mr Springborg's constant criticisms of the people who are working overtime to clear this spill do him no credit," she said.
"We've understood for some days now that the original estimates from this ship were not accurate, and we've planned for that by ensuring that we don't have people on the beaches clearing the oil until we knew that all of the oil was on the beach."
'Tragedy for tourism'
Queensland's Tourism Minister Desley Boyle says an oil spill along pristine beaches in the state's south-east is a tragedy for the tourism industry.
The spill has delivered a double whammy for tourism as tropical cyclone Hamish was already keeping visitors away.
Now operators as far north as the Fraser Coast are reporting cancellations.
Ms Boyle has promised to develop a recovery plan quickly and says the Government is putting together a new marketing campaign to promote the region in the lead-up to Easter.
Ms Bligh is hoping the beaches will be ready before Easter.
"This spill is something that will be cleaned up as quickly as possible and I expect to see people out on our beaches as we enjoy a beautiful Easter," she said.
Mr Springborg said that as soon as the oil slick is cleaned up, a marketing package is needed to tell Queensland and interstate tourists it was business as usual as operators went into the traditionally busy Easter holiday period.
"We already know that there are jobs which are at risk as a consequence of this, particularly when there has been cancellations and there are people who are now looking at booking their holidays who may actually decide to go somewhere else," he said.
"There needs to be a job-saving package to ensure that the tourism industry in this area is not adversely and long-term affected because of the incompetence of this government's handling of this oil spill disaster."
Clean-up continues
A small army of council and State Government workers are continuing the mammoth task of cleaning the oil-tainted beaches.
More than 300 workers are toiling in very hot conditions to scrape the noxious oil off the beach into bags.
Heavy machinery has been brought in to help, but for now the workers are using buckets, rakes and spades.
Incident controller Patrick Quirk from Queensland Transport says the workers have been issued with protective clothing.
"They've been issued with supplied overalls, with breathing apparatus and goggles, gloves and heavy shoes," he said.
One of the island's traditional owners, Robert Anderson, says the island has been violated and desecrated.
"Very sad about it, very sickened that the spectacle that'll be before me."
Fishing hurt
The spill is also expected to hit commercial fishing in the area.
Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin does not believe fish stocks will be contaminated, but testing will de done as a precaution.
"We're not taking that for granted, that's why we've set up this industry technical working group," he said.
Mr Mulherin says trawlers will resume operating in the spill effected area on Sunday night.
He says catches will be tested to ensure it is safe for human consumption.
"We just want to ensure that there is consumer confidence," he said.
"The industry has been asked to hold stocks until the analytical results are available.
"This is a similar process that we used and implemented in the oil spill in Gladstone in 2006."
- ABC/AAP
2009 Queensland oil spill.  200,000 litres of oil leaked into waters off the coast of Brisbane from the ''Pacific Adventurer'' when their fuel tanks were damaged in rough seas on Wednesday.  The figure is about ten times higher than the original estimate of twenty thousand litres of oil.  The devastating diesel oil spill has spread along  of the Queensland coast.  In addition, 31 containers with 620 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser flew overboard during the violent storm.

Questions are being asked why the Hong Kong cargo ship was out in seas with nine meter waves caused by Cyclone Hamish, a Category 5 tropical cyclone, as well as why the fertiliser containers were not properly secured. One of the overboard containers ruptured the hull of the Pacific Adventurer, causing between 30 to 100 tonnes of oil to spew from the severely damaged ship.  

If the ammonium nitrate mixes with the heavy oil, an explosion could occur. None of the containers have been recovered. Some of these may float, but it is believed that they may have sunk which then may cause algal blooms.

Disaster zones have been declared at Bribie and Moreton Islands, and along the Sunshine coast. 

The vessel's owner, Swire Shipping, reported that a second leak began on Friday, when the ship began listing after docking at Hamilton for repairs.  "As full soundings of the vessel's tanks were being taken at the port to determine how much oil had leaked from the vessel, a small quantity of fuel oil escaped from the Pacific Adventurer," it stated.  The ship was brought upright, and a recovery vessel was used to suck up the oil from the water.  The leak produced a 500m-long oil slick down the Brisbane River.  Booms were placed around this oil spill so that a skimmer could clean up the second spill.

MODIS Aqua satellite image of Severe Tropical Cyclone Hamish over the Coral Sea just off the Queensland coast.Swire Shipping could face clean up costs of AU$100,000 a day as well as fines up to AU$1.5million (US$977,000; £703,000) if found guilty of environmental breaches or negligence.

Sunshine Coast beaches are slowly starting to be reopened.  The beach of Mooloolaba was still closed following reports of burning sensations from swimmers.  12 beaches remain closed; however, 13 have been reopened.

Over 300 state government and council workers are using buckets, rakes and spades in the clean up effort.  Sunshine Coast Mayor Bob Abbott says the majority will be gone by Sunday afternoon.  The full environmental impact on wildlife is not yet known.  One turtle and seven pelicans have been found covered in oil.


There are concerns that the drinking water of Moreton Island is at risk, as the island uses water from the underground water table near the oil spill site.

"Every bucketload of contaminated sand has to be removed from the island by barge, and each bucketload from a front-end loader weighs about one tonne. It's just an impossible task,” said Mr Trevor Hassard of the Tangalooma Dolphin Education Centre.

The commercial fishing industry has suffered from the incident. Trawlers won't resume operations until Sunday evening, and any catches will be tested for human consumption.