Great Barrier Reef to get $500m to tackle pollution and breed more resilient coral
A $500 million package to help deal with the problems facing the Great Barrier Reef has been announced by the Federal Government.
The funding will go towards improving water quality, tackling the crown-of-thorns starfish, and expanding reef restoration.
It will also help develop coral that is more resistant to high temperatures and light stress.
The investment comprises a new $444 million partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and $56 million for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Department of the Environment and Energy.
Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said the reef was under a lot of pressure but those challenges could be overcome.
"We'll be improving the monitoring of the reef's health and the measurement of its impacts," he said from Cairns in Far North Queensland.
"The more we understand about the reef, the better we can protect it."
He said the funding represented the single largest investment for reef conservation and management in Australia's history.
"Millions of dollars will go into science and to better data management and to be able to test the impacts on the reef," Mr Frydenberg said.
"We are looking at a whole range of new initiatives, taking best advice of the experts, working closely with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to ensure that the reef has its best chance into the future."
Chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Dr John Schubert said the investment brought real solutions within reach.
"We must improve water quality. We must address crown-of-thorns-starfish outbreaks. We must ensure our reef managers and scientists are better equipped to manage and monitor our reefs, working smarter than ever before.
"And we must unlock new scientific insights that can help restore the reefs that have suffered damage," he said.
Mr Schubert said the reef was under enormous threat from climate change and "we must all work together to do everything possible to achieve the Paris Agreement".
"But while the world works to tackle climate change on a global scale, there are many things we can and must do to build the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef right now," he said.
Mr Frydenberg said the funding would also allow the Government to work closely with farmers "to modify their practices to ensure that the reef doesn't get the large amounts of sediment, nitrogen and pesticide run-off which is so damaging to coral and which helps breed this crown-of-thorns starfish".
Mr Frydenberg was cautious in his response when asked if some damage on the reef was "irreparable", saying experts had told him the reef could be "remarkably resilient".
"The reef supports some 64,000 jobs, over $6 billion it is worth to the economy, and attracts more than 2 million visitors a year," he said.
Chair of the Reef 2050 Advisory Committee and former governor of Queensland Penny Wensley said global warming and cyclones had contributed to the reef's ill health.
"Our reef is in trouble, our reef has been severely damaged over recent years from a combination of pressures."
Ms Wensley said "the world is watching what we do on the reef".
"If Australia can't get this right as a technologically-advanced, prosperous country that cares about its environment, coral reefs around the world are not going to get this right."
She said the funding was more than the committee had hoped for but still would not be enough.
Climate-change policy needed: conservationists, opposition
Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek welcomed the extra funding for the Great Barrier Reef but said the Government needed to focus on climate change.
"The biggest threat to the reef is climate change and we've got a government that continues to be hopelessly unable to take serious action on climate change."
Ms Plibersek said it stood in contradiction to the Federal Government's announcement to remove protections of Australia's marine parks.
"This is the largest ever removal of any area on land or sea from environmental protection, including areas of the Coral Sea that are absolutely critical to the health of the reef so I guess you'd excuse me for being a little sceptical."
Australian Marine Conservation Society campaign director Imogen Zethoven said the money for problems like water quality and crown-of-thorns starfish plagues were welcome.
"But there's a huge missing piece in the puzzle and that is a dramatically significant response to climate change.
"So unless it comes up with a strong policy, to slash our carbon pollution, stop the Adani coal mine and rapidly shift Australia to renewable energy, we will not see a future for the reef."
She said she hoped the funding would adequately address agriculture runoff and pollution issues.
"The reality is, hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars has gone into reef rescue packages for nearly 20 years to deal with poor water quality," she said.
"Yet we've had very little gain, so it's extremely important that this time around the money is spent properly and we start to see the tide turning."
Former Australian Conservation Foundation president Geoff Cousins said while any help for the reef was welcome news, it was unfortunate that the package does not address the "real issue … global warming and climate change".
"We don't protect the reef at all," he told the ABC's National Wrap program.
"A third of the reef is already dead, so for the Government to try and suggest it's somehow doing quite well in looking after this wonderful, national asset it's just a lie, it's not true."
The former Howard government advisor noted the investment comes ahead of the 42nd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, scheduled for June 24 to July 4.
"The problem with the reef package is that it makes people think that something is being done," he said.
"I don't want to be entirely cynical but it surely can't be any coincidence that just before one of those [World Heritage Committee] meetings is going to take place, suddenly we come out with some new 'rescue package'."
The businessman said the economic factors of protecting the reef are as important as environmental factors, noting that there are 70,000 jobs tied to tourism to the Great Barrier Reef.
"Even if you believe the Adani figures of 10,000 jobs, and nobody does, it's nothing compared with the importance of the GBR," he said.
"Even if those jobs did exist, they're mythical, they last for 20-odd years, 30-odd years, maybe at best but the reef is there forever."