Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is a very good day to be the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, because we know that the Great Barrier Reef is home to precious marine life, supports thousands of jobs and is a global tourism icon. I am very pleased that, because of our government, UNESCO has today announced that it will maintain the Great Barrier Reef's World Heritage listing. The draft decision today recognises that the Australian and Queensland governments have made significant commitments to protect the reef and that we are delivering on those commitments. In particular, we've made significant progress on climate action, implementing sustainable fisheries and improving water quality.

The draft decision also recognises that we are delivering a record $1.2 billion in funding. But it also acknowledges that we're putting this funding to work where it is needed most: in the water and in the catchments. We're talking about the remediation work that we're doing and the coastal wetland restoration, which we announced just last week. I am proud of this decision because it recognises two years of incredibly hard work from a huge team of people who call the reef home and protect it every single day, and I want to say thank you to them.

For the past week we have watched Peter Dutton make the case for less climate action, less urgency and more delay. Under Peter Dutton, the reef would be seriously at risk not just under the World Heritage Convention but in very real terms. This means that thousands of jobs across the country, particularly in regional Queensland, would be at risk as well. Peter Dutton won't tell you the cost of his plan, but we know the cost to the Great Barrier Reef— (Time expired)