Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would have to be one of the luckiest members in parliament, because I have the privilege of living in Townsville, which is situated right at the very doorstep of one of the greatest natural landmarks in the world, the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on earth and is even visible from outer space. It sprawls over a jaw-dropping 344,400 square kilometres. It is bigger than Victoria and Tasmania combined; the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Holland combined; roughly the same area as Japan, Germany, Malaysia or Italy; approximately half the size of Texas; and slightly smaller than the entire Baltic Sea. The marine park stretches approximately 2,300 kilometres along the coast of North Queensland and is about the same length as the west coast of the USA from Vancouver to the Mexican border. The Belize Barrier Reef off the Caribbean coast of Belize is the second longest barrier reef in the world, at 290 kilometres, while the Ningaloo Reef off the Western Australian coast is 280 kilometres long.

The reef is composed of 3,000 individual reef systems, 600 tropical islands and about 300 coral cays. This complex maze of habitats provides refuge for an outstanding variety of marine plants and animals—from ancient sea turtles, reef fish and 134 species of sharks and rays to 400 different hard and soft corals and an abundance of seaweeds.

One of the magnificent islands on the reef is Magnetic Island, which is in my electorate of Herbert. You can snorkel on the reef only metres from the shore. If I am not already making people very jealous about my home town, then the next facts will: the Great Barrier Reef is not only the life support for thousands of marine plants and animals but also a huge life support for many of the communities who live on the east coast. The Great Barrier Reef, together with the fishing industry and tourism, delivers approximately $6 billion annually and supports just under 70,000 jobs. In Townsville, businesses such as SeaLink, Livaboards and Yongala Dive are just a few of the tourist businesses that operate very carefully on the Great Barrier Reef. With thousands of tourists flocking annually to Herbert, and more and more cruise ships choosing to dock, tourism for the electorate is only set to grow, and one of the most untapped resources on the barrier reef is Palm Island. Palm Island is one of the largest discrete Aboriginal communities in Australia. It is home to between 3,500 and 5,000 people, and it has the most gorgeous crystal-clear water you would ever see. Cultural tourism, together with dive expeditions, will be an amazing and expanding industry for Herbert, and, in particular, for the people on Palm Island.

Further to the tourism jobs created that are related to the reef, Herbert is home to world-leading marine scientific experts. The Great Barrier Reef has been a drawcard for many scientists, and they are proud to call Townsville home. Recently, the Centre for World University Rankings ranked James Cook University No. 1 in the world for marine and freshwater biology and No. 2 in the world for biodiversity conservation. There is no other university in Australia that can proclaim to be No. 1 in the world for anything.

A fortnight ago I held a mobile office on Magnetic Island, where I met four American students who were studying marine science at James Cook University because it has an international reputation as being one of the very best. One of them had put her studies in medicine in America on hold in order to come and study marine science in Townsville. This is the international reputation and fame that James Cook University has acquired, and I believe the university would support me in saying that none of this could be possible if they weren't located on the doorstep of this great natural wonder, the Great Barrier Reef.

But our scientific experts are not just at James Cook University. We are also home to the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The work currently being done at AIMS is cutting-edge and leads the world in marine research. Just recently, researchers from the University of Miami's School of Marine and Atmospheric Science travelled to Townsville, to the national sea simulator located at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, as part of the cutting-edge research being carried out to save the world's fish. The research is a collaboration of physiology, behaviour and gene compression to understand how rising carbon dioxide levels in the seawater will affect the behaviour of fish and to see what the Great Barrier Reef might look like in 2100.

AIMS's research extends far beyond the environmental. It also analyses the growing blue economy. The blue economy aims to shift society from a scarcity way of thinking to an abundance way of thinking, with what is locally available, by tackling issues that cause environmental and related problems in new ways. The blue economy works with the waste products first, ensuring that every component of every product is utilised. This new economy modelling is creating waves around the world. According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science's 2016 Index of marine industry report, sustained economic growth of the blue economy for the Australian marine industries sector far exceeds that of the national economy. According to the latest figures, the blue economy has more than doubled in the last 10 years, with marine industries now contributing more than $74 billion directly and indirectly to annual national gross domestic product, and growth is projected to continue.

These figures are amazing and show that this is where leaders need to focus. Those at James Cook University, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and AIMS are doing their research, and not only is it vital and necessary work but it also creates hundreds of jobs and makes Townsville an international marine research hub. That is why protecting the Great Barrier Reef is vital not only for our marine species but also for our communities and our economies.

Contrary to some of the fallacies and misconstrued information that some politicians in this place try to spruik, the Great Barrier Reef is indeed in danger. Coral bleaching, pollution and rapidly growing numbers of the crown-of-thorns starfish are endangering our reef. Those politicians who live in the golden triangle of the south-east corner of Queensland and make comments about an area that they have absolutely no understanding of need to realise that those 70,000 people who are employed by industries related to the Great Barrier Reef do not need their pie-in-the-sky personal theories. To go to one of the most south-point areas of the Great Barrier Reef and say that there is nothing wrong with the reef is the equivalent of standing on the edge of Ross River and saying that Townsville can't be in drought as there is water in the river. One has to look a bit further than the tip of one's nose.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science has been conducting reef surveys for more than 30 years. The AIMS's long-term monitoring program provides an invaluable record of change in coral reef communities over a large area of the Great Barrier Reef. Research shows that over the past 12 months hard coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef declined by about a quarter, bringing average reef-wide coral cover down to 18 per cent. These findings are based on surveys of 68 mainly mid- and outer-shelf reefs to March 2017. The impacts of coral bleaching, cyclones, and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks differ along the length of the reef. The bleaching was most intense on reefs between Cairns and Townsville. What this means in a longer-term context is that the decline in the scale of the coral cover in the northern Great Barrier Reef since 2013 is unprecedented—due to two severe cyclones and then the severe coral bleaching event that began in 2016. With this shocking research, it is clear that both sides of parliament need to work together to ensure that we protect our reef and the 70,000 jobs associated with it. That is why I'm proud to support this amendment to the bill.

Labor has a proud history of protecting and defending the Great Barrier Reef. This includes the Whitlam government's implementation of Australia's first marine reserve over the reef. Labor has also more recently established Australia's marine reserve network, the largest network of marine-protected area anywhere in the world. In light of the reports from experts like AIMS, extensive loss of coral and significant threats to the reef's health posed by climate change, it is even more pressing and must be upheld today.

One important practical tool to protect and support the reef is a plan of management for the reef. Plans of management assist with the implementation of ecologically sustainable practices and effective environmental management, especially for at-risk or vulnerable species and ecosystems in need of protection. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park currently has four plans of management in place. They operate in Cairns, Hinchinbrook Island, Shoalwater Bay and the Whitsundays. This bill addresses issues associated with the sunset clause in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975. That clause has the effect of revoking plans of management where those regulations that give those plans effect are repealed. The changes proposed by this bill are designed to prevent this automatic revocation. I am happy to support this bill as it corrects a technical issue with existing legislation. This bill is only a small step, but it is a step in the right direction.

However, more needs to be done and the Turnbull government must do more. Labor's environmental policy commitments go further in their protective efforts, specifically Labor's Great Barrier Reef plan, which involves a more coordinated and efficient long-term management of the reef that is appropriately funded and resourced. This includes investing up to $100 million to review and improve current management practices in the reef, in consultation with the relevant stakeholders. This is further supported by Labor's comprehensive climate change action plan, which would deliver real action on climate change and in doing so preclude its harmful effect on the reef, including coral bleaching.

I want to continue to work with not only my Labor colleagues but those across the floor to ensure we preserve this great natural wonder that we know as the Great Barrier Reef. Preserving jobs, industries, economies and the largest living structure in the world should be bipartisan. No politician can purport to be a leading scientist above the likes of those at AIMS or James Cook University, so let's just leave the reef analysis to the experts and get on with protecting the Great Barrier Reef—for not to act would not only destroy this natural wonder but decimate North Queensland industries and our economy.

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