Address to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s State of the Reef Luncheon
two of the Convenors of Parliamentary Friends of Oceans and Sustainable Development, Anna Marsden and the Reef Foundation team, and all guests present today, who share my passion for the Great Barrier Reef. In acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land we’re on today, I also wish to acknowledge the over 70 Traditional Owner groups who are custodians of the Great Barrier Reef and its catchments.
From Bundaberg to Cape York to the Torres Strait, these groups have been connected to land and sea Country for over 60,000 years. But I want you to cast your minds back to roughly 10,000 years ago. The Great Barrier Reef was not as we know it today.
It simply did not exist. Picture limestone hills, eucalypts, marshlands and mangrove swamps. Traditional Owners hunted and gathered on those exact same lands, which we now know as the Reef’s seafloor.
Fast forward 3,000 years - sea levels began to rise, and year by year, the Northeast Australian continental shelf slowly became flooded. As a result, a reef began to grow and flourish. The ancestors of these same 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups maintained their connection to the land and sea.
They cared for the Reef. They protected the Reef. They respected the Reef. 7 millennia have since passed, and we are now blessed with one of nature’s greatest wonders.
Somewhere I’ve had the privilege of visiting and snorkelling on, several times, as Minister, as a Queensland Senator and as a tourist, with my own family. Awestruck by the largest living structure on the planet, full of spectacular marine life, large and small. It’s an ecosystem like no other and it’s no wonder that so many of us are determined to protect it.
Because we know the Reef is under significant pressure, with the last 50 years bringing new and growing challenges. Human induced climate change continues to be the most significant threat. Impacting coral reefs, through warming oceans, and World Heritage sites globally.
We’re also continuing to see impacts from severe weather events, crown of thorns starfish, some fishing activities and poor water quality, from land-based runoff. Faced with these challenges, humankind must be at its best. That’s why we are taking up the fight to protect the Great Barrier Reef for future generations.
It’s why the Albanese Government has invested a record $1.2 billion to help build the Reef’s resilience. Part of an investment of over $5 billion by the Federal and Queensland Governments since 2014. To protect and restore those magnificent corals, clams, fish, sharks and more.
And to protect the jobs and economic benefits they provide, nationwide. ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE REEF Due to some excellent research commissioned by the Reef Foundation, we now know that the Reef contributed more than $9 billion to the national economy in 2023–24. It supports 77,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
That puts the Reef as Australia’s fifth biggest employer. In 2017, the Reef’s estimated value was $56 billion. Today, it’s worth $95 billion.
That’s a 69% increase in less than a decade. A powerful reminder of what’s on the line – economically - when it comes to protecting the Great Barrier Reef. And protecting both the environmental and economic benefits of the Reef can only be achieved through world-leading marine park management.
We have a long history of it. But we cannot afford to take our foot off the pedal. STATE OF CONSERVATION Earlier this year we provided UNESCO with an updated report on the state of conservation of the Great Barrier Reef.
The report demonstrates that Australia has continued its long history of delivering what is recognised as one of the world’s best reef management systems. In fact, the report shows we are strengthening the Reef’s resilience to the cumulative impacts of climate change and other threats. We have responded to every request made by UNESCO, with every single commitment delivered or on track for delivery by their due date.
In particular, the report reiterates the new steps taken by our government, in the last 12 months, to boost the Reef’s resilience. Such as introducing new Commonwealth regulation of land clearing in the Reef catchment area, a key feature of our historic reforms to Australia’s national environmental law, the EPBC Act. This one action alone will dramatically improve the quality of water flowing to the Reef – a key step towards maintaining the Reef’s Outstanding Universal Value.
This reform built on our government’s revised greenhouse gas emission reduction target – an ambitious and achievable 2035 target of 62-70% reductions below 2005 levels. Playing our part in tackling climate change, which we know is having such an impact on the Reef and reefs worldwide. And demonstrating to UNESCO that we, along with industry, communities, Traditional Owners and other levels of government, take seriously our responsibility to the Reef.
WORLD-LEADING REEF MANAGEMENT Of course, these recent changes build on the huge amount of other work already underway, with a range of partners including the Reef Foundation working to ensure the Reef maintains its Outstanding Universal Value. Backed by both the latest science and Traditional Knowledge, we are supporting improvements to the water quality flowing to the Reef.
A range of programs continue to reduce sediment and nutrient run-off to deliver healthier waterways leading to the Reef. This includes our $200 million Landscape Repair Program, which has accelerated efforts to repair land and reduce sediment run-off in the catchments. New, targeted programs will also help better manage threats associated with run-off from farmland and urban areas.
They will support healthier habitats, such as wetlands, which provide important benefits for water quality. Our Traditional Owner-Led Water Quality Improvement Program will also strengthen Traditional Owner partnerships and leverage Traditional Knowledge to improve water quality. And there is more to come.
We are expecting much greater progress in meeting water quality targets as other significant, multi-year projects are completed and reported on. We are also better managing the colossal impact of crown-of-thorns starfish that eat dinner plate-sizes of coral every day. Since 2012, the COTS Control Program has helped to cull more than 1.4 million of these nasty pests – protecting coral across 400 high value reefs.
New innovations, tools and research are also improving how we predict, detect and respond to COTS outbreaks. It’s the kind of thing we know we need to do more of, especially as the impact from climate change increases. Beyond this, we are also advancing sustainable fishing practices. 30 of 33 actions under the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy are completed - with full implementation on track to be delivered by next year.
We are developing the world’s first traceability system for Queensland’s coral harvest fishery. And in 2027, the Reef will become gillnet-free. We also continue to strengthen our Traditional Owner partnerships, including through support for the Reef 2050 Traditional Owner Implementation Plan and programs that are enabling Traditional Owners to lead Reef protection activities.
Together, we are doing more than ever to address key threats for the Reef, while also continuing to share our expertise to support coral reefs worldwide. RRAP AND ADAPTATION While we continue to take steps to reduce threats to the Reef, we also need to support it to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Through the Reef Restoration and Adaption Program, Australia has delivered the most advanced such initiative in the world.
It is the world’s largest research and development program to help an ecosystem survive climate change. With partners including the Reef Foundation, it’s been testing ideas, pushing boundaries, and building an evidence base where, not long ago, there were more questions than answers. We’ve moved interventions that once felt theoretical into something more tangible.
We’ve built a clearer picture of what is technically possible, where the limits lie, and what risks need to be understood. And it has delivered solutions that could help our Reef, and reefs worldwide, resist, adapt to and recover from climate change impacts. It’s fair to say that that work is now at an inflection point – where we need to start thinking about how we could deploy these interventions at scale to make the Reef not just the best managed in the world, but the most resilient.
Through the Pilot Deployment Program, we are now taking solutions and testing their effectiveness at scale on the Reef. That’s work that I see as important to where we all head together in the coming months and years. And my door is open to how we make that work meaningful.
That’s a key question and challenge to all of us in this room – what does adaptation look like over the next 10, 20 years and beyond? It’s a question that I think we should all have in mind as we plan for the future. And while some people wait for luck, I’d rather have a strategy.
REEF 2050 PLAN That strategy, of course, is the Reef 2050 Plan and, to consider where we go from here, I am today announcing the commencement of the next review of that Plan. The Reef 2050 Plan has been successfully guiding investment and management across the Reef since 2015. It remains the most comprehensive plan of corrective measures ever developed for a World Heritage property.
This routine review will ensure the plan remains current and addresses the cumulative impacts of climate change and other threats on the Reef. It will ensure our actions remain contemporary, fit for purpose and more adaptive to a changing climate. It will be underpinned by the latest science and research, as well as engagement with Traditional Owners and other key partners.
And it will build on the work we have delivered so far to protect the Reef. The updated Reef 2050 plan will continue to be supported by significant government funding, including through our record investment in the Reef, which is still rolling out. GREAT BARRIER REEF FOUNDATION Of course, it’s not only government that has provided significant funds for the research, protection and adaptation the Reef needs.
I would like to thank the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and its partners for your efforts over the years to assemble people, science, sectors and resources, to support a resilient Reef. This includes through delivering the Reef Trust Partnership, which remains the largest effort globally to help an ecosystem withstand the impacts of climate change and local stresses.
That partnership between the government and the Foundation has delivered significant outcomes for the Reef. It has helped improve water quality, manage crown-of-thorns starfish, deliver world-lead solutions to help the Reef adapt and restore, strengthened community and Traditional Owner partnerships and unlocked critical private investment to support Reef protection.
This work demonstrates the power of coordination and partnerships, which have been, and will continue to be, central to Australia’s approach to protecting and managing the Reef. I look forward to that relationship continuing, as we all work towards preserving and restoring this natural wonder, of which all Australians are proud. A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE In conclusion, I can see this room is full of a diverse range of people who care deeply about the Reef.
Traditional Owners, leaders in government, corporates, philanthropists and professors to name a few. We are all here because we are committed to supporting a healthy, resilient Reef into the future. It’s a collective action to protect the species that call the Reef home, the jobs and businesses they support and which complements billions of dollars in government investment.
It would be gross negligence of all us to not protect what is arguably Australia’s biggest natural asset, something we are known internationally for. The challenges may be immense. But the alternative is losing the Reef, and that’s not an option.
We owe it to the ancestors of those 70 Traditional Owner groups that cared for the Reef and its catchments all those years ago. We owe it to every Australian. And to the world.
And if we continue to protect it, help it adapt and build its resilience, we will see it thrive for another 7 millennia, no matter what the future brings. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.