The Abbot Point coal terminal expansion should not go ahead if plans to dump the spoil from the dredging for the project is placed near the reef, according to environmental activists and the Greens party.

“We have responded with rigour and passion to protect this icon,” Hunt said.

Hunt has ordered the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to draft regulations to ban dredge spoil dumping in the area “once and for all.”

Environment groups say the proposed dump ban ignores about 80% of dredge dumping in the rest of the reef's world heritage area.

The Queensland Labor Party has swung its support for a concerted national effort to improve water quality in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park using scientific methods rather than seeking to encourage UNESCO to place it on an “in danger” listing.

Queensland Resources CEO Michael Roche said Labor leader Annastacia Palaszczuk’s policy commitment was a welcome signal that the major parties contesting the state election are focused on combatting the scientifically documented threats to the reef.

“UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is set to consider an ‘in-danger’ listing for the Great Barrier Reef in June, which no one wants to see happen.”