Turnbull pledges to help protect the Great Barrier Reef

Climate change has significantly damaged our beloved Great Barrier Reef and it’s time to do something about it. The Coalition have pledged to grant $1 billion to help protect the Reef’s coral bleaching and improvement on water quality.

With United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) placing the Reef on the endangered list, serious action was needed from the government. Turnbull’s pledge is hoping to improve water quality, provide clean energy into the river and reduce emissions. The funding will also help coastal sewage treatments and create a biogas electricity generation for effective use of water treatment.

Whilst in Townsville, he announced the project saying Australia needs to become a “role model in management of coral reefs.” He continues on by deliberating on the beauty of the reef “It’s the largest coral reef in the world, it is unique, it’s gigantic, it’s an enormous economic driver here in North Queensland.”

The Environmental Minister, Greg Hunt, has supported this action by claiming the grant is a practical solution to a problem, no one has really looked at. “All of the advice we have from the scientists is reduce the runoff, reduce the pollutant, reduce the fertiliser and the sediment,” Hunt said.

The prime minister has told us that this plan was from early last December, however a few weeks ago, opposition leader Bill Shorten announced Labour will pledge to grant $500 million to the Great Barrier Reef. His funding included an extra $50 million to the CSIRO, to improve water quality and reduce sediment run-off.

The money for this scheme has come from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s special account.