Prime Minister Scott Morrison is heading to electorally crucial north Queensland armed with an additional $1 billion to support the Great Barrier Reef, half of which is going to farmers to help improve water quality.
In yet another sign that pre-election campaigning is in full swing, Mr Morrison will head north on Friday, pledging greater investment in one of Australia's greatest icons - a tourism drawcard which is under threat from climate change and pollution.
The significant investment, to be spent over nine years, comes after UNESCO's July decision not to list the world's most extensive coral reef ecosystem as an endangered World Heritage site, instead giving Australia another eight months to upgrade reef protection.
The federal government has been intensely lobbying against the listing, with UNESCO due to consider the listing again in Russia in June.
"We are backing the health of the reef and the economic future of tourism operators, hospitality providers and Queensland communities that are at the heart of the reef economy," Mr Morrison said in a statement.
"This is already the best-managed reef in the world, and today we take our commitment to a new level."
The extra $1 billion brings the amount spent by the federal government on the Reef 2050 Plan to $3 billion. The announcement also follows a similar visit to the reef by Labor leader Anthony Albanese earlier this month, when he outlined a $163 million package over four years to conserve the natural wonder.
Friday's $1 billion package is specifically reef and sea-life focused, with a special emphasis on tackling water pollution. Earlier Reef 2050 funding went to the administration of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
"Funding will support scientists, farmers and traditional owners, backing in [the] very latest marine science while building resilience and reducing threats from pollution in our oceans and predators such as the crown-of-thorns starfish," the Prime Minister detailed.
Just over half the money, $579.9 million, is for water quality improvement by helping land managers with soil erosion and nutrient and pesticide runoff. The rest of the Reef 2050 funding is for research, reef management and conservation, and $74.4 million will go to both traditional owner- and community-led projects. It is understood Reef 2050 funding was due to run out at the end of the next financial year.
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It is estimated the reef supports 64,000 jobs, and is worth $6 billion annually to the economy, mostly in tourism dollars. The Queensland tourism sector remains hard-hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are working across every aspect of the reef," Environment Minister Sussan Ley said.
"Our farmers, tourism operators, and fishers are our reef champions, and we are supporting them through practical water- and land-based strategies that will contribute significantly to the health of the reef."
Pressure has been building to list the reef as an endangered World Heritage site. Such an "in danger" listing would lead to UNESCO working to help Australia remediate the problem. Environmentalists want more done to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The world's largest coral reef is under threat from climate change. Scientists have noted higher marine temperatures, and more frequent and intense marine heatwaves. There have been five mass bleaching events - in 1998, 2002, 2016, 2017 and 2020 - which includes three in the past five years. There's concern there may be another event this year.
Government scientists have rated the Great Barrier Reef's long-term outlook as poor to very poor, but the government says it is the best-managed reef in the world.
The Reef 2050 program is jointly run by the Queensland government and the federal government's Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
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