Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment. After losing 50 per cent of the coral cover of the Great Barrier Reef since 2015, UNESCO has today recommended that the reef be listed as World Heritage in danger, pointing out that climate change is the biggest threat to the reef. They have warned Australia of this since 2012, yet the minister today claimed to have been blindsided and stunned by the decision. How did the government manage to miss the memo that without significant action to address climate change an in-danger listing is likely? Or is the minister just stunned that your eight years of lobbying other nations to ignore the science has finally failed?