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

GREEN () (): The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority annual report 2022-23 is a fantastic report. I'll get to the report in one second, but I want to give some context on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority for any of those senators in the chamber or those listening at home who might not be aware that the authority was established many years ago. Actually, it was Prime Minister Gough Whitlam who stood in Cairns on 25 November 1974 to say that the Australian government would create a marine park based on the Great Barrier Reef in order to protect it from oil-drilling at the time.

So in 1974, Labor announced that they would establish the marine park and, all those years ago, it was because we wanted to protect it from one of the greatest challenges it was facing at the time, oil-drilling. We know now that the Great Barrier Reef continues to face challenges, including climate change and, again, it's a Labor government that's stepping up to protect the Great Barrier Reef. Gough Whitlam said at the time:

We will take this action to protect an irreplaceable part of Australia's natural heritage. We are determined to safeguard the reef and ensure its survival. We will preserve it both for its intrinsic value and its importance to the tourist industry of Queensland.

That's what we're doing today. It's detailed in this annual report, and I want to thank the reef authority for putting this together. It's a very detailed report that goes through a lot of the measures that are being put in place to make the reef more resilient to climate change in the face of this growing threat.

Of course, for those who think that this effort is disingenuous, climate change is dealt with on page 3 of the report. It says:

Climate change remains the greatest threat to the Reef. It influences weather patterns, ocean temperatures, pH levels and currents, and intensifies the effects of other threats. Climate change is escalating, and the Reef is already experiencing the consequences. Our plan for managing the Reef under a changing climate … will reaffirm our commitment to addressing these impacts.

It goes on to talk about a number of the measures that our government has supported and implemented when it comes to making the reef more resilient—managing threats like water quality, crown-of-thorns starfish and doing the hard work in researching how we can make the reef more resilient.

I'm glad and really pleased that the blueprint for resilience is being updated. We're working to update all the information in light of the new government's policies, which we know have been described by UNESCO as different as night is from day to those of the previous government. But when it comes to some of the measurements that we have put in place, I was particularly pleased to see the crown-of-thorns starfish program get a really big mention in this annual report. That's because it's so important in managing coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef which are under threat from crown-of-thorns starfish.

In Cairns, back in August 2022, I was really pleased to announce that $164 million would be invested in the reef authority's crown-of-thorns starfish program, and I'm pleased to say that the annual report makes it clear that this a program that is achieving fantastic results. The target was to reach 87 per cent of actioned reefs. The result of the program was that they actually managed to reach 91 per cent of those reefs, and 1,374 cull sites were actioned during those culls. It's a nasty starfish. They have to get out there—it's a manual job—but these guys who are out there doing the hard work are supported by our government.

The other really important work that's referred to in the annual report is the remediation of the Douglas Shoal site. I wanted to mention this because in the year since the last annual report came out a lot of work has been done to restore that area. In December 2022, the reef authority contracted a local provider to clean up the shoal area, and the dredge vessel Gateway is scheduled to commence offshore remediation activities on the shoal in spring 2023. The project will remediate critical habitat in the reef damaged by the grounding of the Shen Neng 1 and demonstrate Australia's commitment to holding to account those who damage our natural environment. It's an incredibly important part of our program.

There are so many things that I could say about this report, but there is one thing in particular I want to mention. The annual report is always good fodder for Senate estimates, but, very importantly, if you do manage to pick this up, the reef authority employs 257 people, many of them in regional Queensland, in Townsville. They are located in North Queensland, and I'm proud of every single one of them. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.