FEDERAL Member for Dawson George Christensen is claiming most Whitsunday residents support the expansion of Abbot Point - and he's got the statistics to back it up.

An independent poll ordered by the federal representative found 62% of residents in the Whitsunday Regional Council area believe the project can be done while keeping the reef safe.

Meanwhile, 29% said the project would harm the reef and 9% didn't know.

"Obviously there's a noisy minority who believe that creating more and more noise about the expansion of Abbot Point will make people think they're the majority," Mr Christensen said.

"They've got every right to continue to speak out against it, but they shouldn't seek to style themselves as the majority of people."

Mr Christensen said the tourism sector, often styled as opponents of the project, were mostly in favour.

"I've spoken to many tourism sector accommodation providers and they're strong supporters of it going ahead," he said.

"Because they realise that the people attracted to the region for the jobs created and to work on that project will probably holiday locally."

When asked if voters were putting job creation ahead of the reef, Mr Christensen said that wasn't the case.

"I don't have the details of the other question about whether they're putting jobs over the reef, but the majority of people said no to that," he said.

"People understand that reef is more important than jobs, but they also understand that this project can go ahead without harming the reef."