Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

First of all, I congratulate the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, particularly their chief, Dr Russell Reichelt, and the work that they do continuously to support our Great Barrier Reef. It is a unique destination and icon of Australia, and one that is particularly important to that part of Queensland where I hail from. Tourism from the Great Barrier Reef is enormously beneficial to the economy of North Queensland. As guardians of one of the best reefs in the world, we have a responsibility to the world to look after the reef—and we do it very well.

In view of some of the things that Senator McGauran has just rightly raised, I want to raise some things out of this Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority: outlook report 2009. I am surprised the Greens political party are not here to talk about this. I acknowledge that it is late in the parliamentary week but one would think, given the way they carry on about the Great Barrier Reef, they would be here to talk about this particular report. I refer my Senate colleagues to the executive summary of this report. I will just quote a few things:

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most diverse and remarkable ecosystems in the world and remains one of the most healthy coral reef ecosystems.

If you listen to Senator Wong or the Greens, you would think that the Great Barrier Reef was about to disappear from this earth. That is not so, according to this very scientific report. I quote from a little further on:

While populations of almost all marine species are intact and there are no records of extinctions, some ecologically important species, such as dugongs, marine turtles, seabirds, black teatfish and some sharks, have declined significantly. Although the declines of loggerhead turtles and dugongs are believed to have halted, there are few examples of increasing populations in species of conservation concern.

That is a big tick to the Howard government, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and to James Cook University for all of their work over the last decade or so.

I will continue quoting from this executive summary:

Corel reef habitats fluctuate naturally depending on changes in environmental conditions, but they are gradually declining, especially inshore, as a result of poor water quality and the compounding effects of climate change. Habitats more remote from human use, such as the continental slope and reefs in the far north are believed to be in very good condition and portions of the lagoon floor are recovering from previous effects of trawling.

So you can see there are positives. The executive summary goes on to say:

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is considered by many to be a leading example of world’s best practice management.

Now, again, if you would listen to Senator Wong or the Greens political party, you would think that the Barrier Reef was just about dead.

Time is not going to allow me to quote some of the other very important aspects of this executive summary, but I will perhaps just go to the final paragraph:

Further building the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef by improving water quality, reducing the loss of coastal habitats and increasing knowledge about fishing and its effects, will give it the best chance of adapting to and recovering from the serious threats ahead, especially from climate change.

If you look at that carefully, you will see that the Barrier Reef can adapt to climate change providing we do the other things—the managing of water quality, the reduction in the loss of coastal habitats and the increasing of our knowledge about fishing and its effects. I might say it was the Howard government that poured millions and millions of dollars into research to make sure those redeeming effects do happen. Congratulations to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on this outlook report. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.