Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment, Senator Hume. The Great Barrier Reef suffered its first mass coral bleaching in 1998, the first in recorded history. Even though our best climate models at the time predicted it wasn't possible to have back-to-back mass coral bleachings, they did occur in 2016 and 2017. We had a fourth mass coral bleaching in 2019-20. The reef is believed to have lost half of its coral cover. Your own internal reports in 2019 downgraded the status of the reef from poor to very poor. Last year, UNESCO downgraded the status of the reef to critical. Minister, do you agree that the Great Barrier Reef is in danger?