New reports of bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority warning of mass bleaching in coming weeks, are damning reminders of Scott Morrison’s lack of climate action.
The Great Barrier Reef is Australia’s greatest natural icon. It supports 64,000 jobs in Queensland and contributes $6.4 billion to the Australian economy.
But Scott Morrison has no plan to improve the health of the Reef.
Climate change is the greatest threat to the Reef - you can’t be serious about saving the Reef without a serious plan to tackle climate change.
The 2019 Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report, issued by Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), downgraded the long-term outlook for the Reef’s ecosystem from ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’.
During the mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 scientists estimated as much as half of the Great Barrier Reef corals were lost.
The world’s scientists reported 2°C of global warming would destroy more than 99 per cent of the world’s coral reefs, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Yet Scott Morrison’s inadequate climate policy has Australia on a trajectory towards 3°C of global warming.
The Great Barrier Reef is open for business and remains one of the best tourism experiences on the planet. But denial about the threat of climate change puts the Reef at even greater risk.
While we face a heightened risk of the next catastrophic bleaching event for the Reef, Liberal National Party Members have spent more time marketing themselves than they have protecting the Reef, Queensland jobs and the billions of dollars it brings to regional Queensland economies.