A campaign to have the Great Australian Bight added to the United Nations' World Heritage List will be launched by the Greens.
South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Bight is under increasing threat from companies wanting to drill for oil and gas, risking the tourism and fishing industries, coastal communities and marine life.
"World heritage listing is a way to recognise, celebrate and protect all that's great about the Bight," Senator Hanson-Young said on Wednesday.
"That's good for tourism, good for jobs, good for the Bight and good for the state."
The federal government's National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority is considering a proposal to carry out oil and gas exploration in the Bight at locations within 100km of Port Lincoln and Kangaroo Island.
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Senator Hanson-Young said there was no social licence for oil and gas drilling in the Bight and the Labor and Liberal governments need to support its long-term protection.
Any application for World Heritage Listing requires the federal government to support an application to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
Senator Hanson-Young said much of the wildlife found in the Bight was not found anywhere else on earth.
"Just last year, scientists discovered 275 species and a further 887 species already known to science were found in the Bight for the first time," she said.
"The underwater environment is so diverse that scientists are yet fully to understand the richness of this complex ecosystem."
