Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I can inform Senator Macdonald and the Senate that this is part of a comprehensive suite of actions that this government is taking to ensure the protection of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park not just now but well into the future for all future generations.

Alongside the Queensland government, we are investing $2 billion over the next decade for the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. We have dedicated $40 million to a reef trust to invest in water quality, biodiversity and ecosystem health. We are working directly with farmers to help them in the reef with an innovative market-based mechanism offering financial incentives, to cane farmers in particular, to improve nitrogen-use efficiency through the Reef Trust Tender—Wet Tropics program. More than 325,000 crown-of-thorns starfish have been culled through a $10 million investment in a targeted cull program. We have passed laws to triple the penalties applying to turtle and dugong poaching and are providing $700,000 to help reduce marine debris. (Time expired)