E&OE….
Topics: Great Barrier Reef
PAUL MURRAY:
Greg Hunt, the Federal Minister for the Environment, joins us now. G'day Greg.
GREG HUNT:
And good afternoon Paul.
PAUL MURRAY:
You're actually over in Europe at the moment. Were you in Europe for this particular meeting?
GREG HUNT:
Yes, I was here exclusively for the Bonn conference of what's known as the World Heritage Committee. And the World Heritage Committee administers and oversees the World Heritage Convention, which is all of the – more than 1000 properties around the world that are the jewels in the global environment and cultural crowns.
PAUL MURRAY:
What does this decision mean?
GREG HUNT:
So the decision was unanimous and overwhelming. And there are 21 countries on the World Heritage Committee. And every one of them spoke, every one of them endorsed the decision which not only said that the Great Barrier Reef is not in danger but that we come off the watch list. We went on to the watch list under Labor in 2011, '12 and '13. We come off that watch list, we return to a normal five year reporting cycle as does every property under the Coalition.
And more than that, they cited Australia as a global role model for managing World Heritage properties and in particular for reefs. The German Chair, Maria Bohmer, who is overseeing the conference, specifically said that Australia is a global role model. And I think this might be a message to many of the critics that perhaps they shouldn't let politics get in the way of a genuine assessment of what Australia is doing to make dramatic improvements to Reef management, care and maintenance.
PAUL MURRAY:
I was going to say to you then, this isn't the message that we hear at home.
GREG HUNT:
Well, the global umpire has spoken. And the World Heritage Committee is an almost unique body. It's completely depoliticised. It has global technical experts on it and advising it. It makes tough decisions. In the hour and a half before the decision regarding the Great Barrier Reef, other properties were discussed. And there were negative comments made, there were criticisms and suggestions. There was a very vigorous debate.
When the Great Barrier Reef came up and the motion to ensure that we're no longer on the watch list, we're definitely not heading towards endanger, we are, you know, we were praised for what we had done – and it was a very moving moment when 21 countries talked about Australia things such as providing a lesson to all about what can be achieved according to Lebanon. Australia has set an example with its efforts on the Great Barrier Reef, according to Vietnam and country after country made these points and a lot of long-term observers were very moved. And the reason why is because we've gone and done real things.
We've taken five massive dredge disposal projects inherited from Labor that were going into the Reef and they're down to zero. We've put a permanent ban – a permanent ban – in place on dredge disposal in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and a plan out to 2050 for managing the Reef and there's a $2 billion funding package over the next 10 years and $200 million new money for water quality which we've recently announced in Queensland so the world is looking at that and saying this is real.
PAUL MURRAY:
Now, Greg this isn't to say that the Reef is out of the woods at this stage. It's still facing a number of natural challenges.
GREG HUNT:
Look, every reef in the world has challenges and that's precisely why we fought for and secured through the Budget process the additional funds. Water quality is the biggest immediate challenge, long term climate change is a significant challenge but if you improve the water quality, you improve the resilience and the health of the Reef. Sediment and nitrogen and pesticide inflows into an area the size of Italy and – or Germany, is down. But we can improve those figures again.
We've got an 80 per cent nitrogen runoff reduction target and these things have gone around the world, other countries are now looking to us to help them manage their reefs and indeed their World Heritage properties. I've just met the Thai Minister for the Environment before coming on air and he was asking about Australian help in managing some of their World Heritage properties. So, it's one of those very fine moments where the Reef has been endorsed but Australia as a global, environmental leader has been singled out in the best possible way in the best possible forum.
PAUL MURRAY:
Greg, WWF Australia has said the decision had put Australia on probation, I think what they're talking about is there's some requirement for you to report back to UNESCO at the end of the year. What's that about?
GREG HUNT:
Look, again, this is wrong. They and others campaigned for the Reef to not only stay on the watch list but to be declared ‘in danger’. Both of those things are gone and now what's happened is we've gone back to the normal five year reporting cycle. We did suggest – I proposed to the Director-General of UNESCO, which is the overarching UN body – in April, that we should provide a two-yearly update on how our investment's going but we actually tabled that in its earliest form two years ahead of schedule and countries are saying wow, this is tremendous.
So, what is normal, ordinary reporting is being, shall we say, a little bit overstated by some of the people who tried desperately to have it listed ‘in danger’ but in the end, the global umpire declared it's not in danger, it's not on the watch list, this is a property which should be held up to the world and the Australian Government should be held up to the world as an exemplar of how we deal with challenges but there are real challenges.
PAUL MURRAY:
Thanks for making the time available to us Greg, appreciate it.
GREG HUNT:
Thanks Paul, cheers.
PAUL MURRAY:
Greg Hunt, the Federal Minister for the Environment. That decision does appear to leave stranded quite a number of environmental groups in Australia who have sung tales of doom and gloom about the Barrier Reef to make political points and they will have some difficulty doing so now.
(ENDS)