A leading conservation group has accused the Government of trying to “hide the bad news” about the health of the Great Barrier Reef with the release of a major five-year outlook report on Friday afternoon.
A 600-page report from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said the reef's “window of opportunity to secure a bright future” was “rapidly closing” and that the outlook for the ecosystem was “very poor”.
WWF-Australia marine chief Richard Leck said the report was significant but “its release late on Friday afternoon is concerning”.
“The impression is that the government is trying to hide the report's findings in order to hide bad news. This is a cynical approach to the management of the Great Barrier Reef.”
The Biological Diversity Council, a non-profit group of scientific experts, said the “key findings” of the report released by officials late on Friday “overshadow the gravity of the situation.”
“The upbeat tone of the key findings contrasts with the worrying details within the report,” council member and coastal ecosystem expert Professor Catherine Lovelock said.
Environment Minister Tanja Plibersek did not release the report to the media or hold a press conference – two steps taken by then-minister Sussan Ley when an earlier version of the report was released in 2019.
On Friday morning, before the Outlook report was released, Mr Plibersek was in Townsville with Premier Anthony Albanese to promote spending of $192 million to improve water quality on the reef and $100 million for the Marine Parks Authority's Reef Headquarters Education Centre.
Mr Leck said the report made clear that limiting global warming to 1.5C was “critically important to the future of coral reefs”.
“But the report puts the onus on the international community to achieve the 1.5°C outcome without acknowledging that the Australian government's current climate targets are insufficient to give coral reefs a fighting chance.”
The report assesses the status and trends of biodiversity, ecosystems and other indicators, and projects overall prospects for the future of coral reefs.
“Future warming built into the climate system means that further degradation (of coral reefs) is inevitable – this is the harsh reality of climate change,” the report's summary reads.
The agency released the report after 4pm on Friday, saying the condition of the reef “will continue to deteriorate, mainly due to climate change.”
The report said some habitats and species had improved over the past five years “thanks to periods of low disturbance and decades of protection and management.”
The assessment was carried out before the worst mass coral bleaching event on record hit the reef this summer.
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Aerial images confirm massive coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef due to global heat stress event – VIDEO
The condition of coral reefs has improved from “very poor” to “poor,” and seagrass beds have also improved to “good” condition since 2019.
Most sea turtle populations had declined, and the condition of seabirds, shorebirds, sea snakes, sharks and rays remained poor.
One of the “key findings” selected from the report states that “the sheer size of the reef, combined with legislation, local management actions and reef stewardship, provide protection against widespread ecosystem decline.”
But the report said the size of World Heritage sites “makes them less effective buffers against global impacts”.
“The conservation status of World Heritage sites remains good, but has reached a state of poor conservation,” the report said.
“But unless further national and global action is taken to address the greatest threats to coral reefs during this critical decade and beyond, persistent and widespread impacts to this region and adjacent areas will continue to undermine the protective capacity of this buffer zone.”
A spokesman for Mr Plibersek did not respond to questions about when he might be released.
But the minister said Labor understood its responsibility to “protect and restore the reef” and the Government was investing $1.2 billion in the reef.
The agency's chief scientist, Dr Roger Bearden, said the report was “made public as soon as it was submitted to Parliament, it was our duty to do so”.
He said the report does not deny the changes coral reefs are experiencing, many of which are caused by climate change.
