Environment Minister says government will challenge UNESCO move to list Great Barrier Reef as ‘in danger’

Environment Minister Sussan Ley says Australia has been “blindsided” by a draft recommendation to list the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”, suggesting the decision was politically motivated.

The World Heritage Committee, which sits under UNESCO, has proposed moving the reef to the list because of the impact of climate change, and will consider the decision at a meeting in China, which is the chair, next month.

Ms Ley described the decision as a “backflip” and said United Nations officials had assured the government the reef would not face this kind of recommendation before the July meeting.

“We were blindsided by a sudden late decision,” she said.

“It is almost unheard of for a site to be added to the endangered list, or recommended … without the necessary consultation leading up to it.

“It is a deviation from normal process.”

Ms Ley said the draft recommendation was based on a “desktop review” that did not have the latest information on a range of measures taken to protect the reef, including work on restoring corals and water quality management.

She also said there were dozens of other World Heritage-listed sites considered at risk that had not been subject to draft recommendations, saying Australia had been “singled out”.

“For us to be singled out in a way that completely distorts the normal process was something we were very strong about,” she said.

“We made the point that we will challenge this decision when it comes before the full committee later on in July.

“When procedures are not followed, when the process is turned on its head five minutes before the draft decision is due to be published, when the assurances my officials received and indeed I did have been upended. What else can you conclude but that it is politics?

“The decision has not been transparent in my view.”

The Environment Minister said there was no doubt climate change was one of, if not the, greatest threat to the reef, but argued the government was taking extensive action to mitigate that as much as possible.

But Imogen Zethoven, an environmental consultant to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said the potential listing should not come as a surprise.

“There is no doubt at all that the Great Barrier Reef is in danger from climate change,” she said.

“Last year the [International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN], which is the advisory body to the World Heritage Committee, identified that because of climate change the outlook for the Great Barrier Reef was now critical.

“So I don’t think anyone could be surprised that UNESCO has come up with this draft decision to put [it] on the ‘in danger’ list.”

Shadow Environment Minister Terri Butler said the government needed to stop ignoring the warning signals that the Reef was suffering.

“When it comes to this particular committee process and this draft listing the government needs to stand up for Australian jobs and stand up for Australian nature and insist on doing everything they can to avoid an in danger listing,” she said.

Experts reject claim that listing is political

Ms Zethoven said there was no guarantee the draft recommendation would be adopted but she disputed the idea that it was a politically motivated move by China.

“It is 100 per cent an environmental decision,” she said.

“The only agencies that had any involvement in this recommendation are the World Heritage Centre and the IUCN, and any other claim is just a complete fabrication.”

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick said the state government would continue advocate for the work being done to protect the reef.

But he said yesterday’s National leadership spill and the return of Barnaby Joyce, who is vocally against a net zero emissions by 2050 target, sent the wrong message about the government’s plan for tackling climate change.

“On the day that a climate change denier and sceptic, a man that wants to wreck our climate change ambitions, Barnaby Joyce, becomes Deputy Prime Minister again, we find out we’ve got this very serious decision about the Great Barrier Reef,” Mr Dick said.

“I just think it’s absolutely retrograde, it’s selfish and self-indulgent to bring on this spill … who are these people to turn climate policy upside down, to turn the federal government upside down, and send a message internationally that climate change deniers … are now in charge of the federal government.”

Mr Joyce defeated Michael McCormack in a leadership vote yesterday and was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister this morning.

One of the issues that led to the leadership spill was ongoing disquiet in the Nationals about the Prime Minister’s increasing support of a net zero by 2050 emissions target.

Mr Joyce said he would be guided by his party room when it comes to pushing against the government’s plan to reach net zero emissions “preferably” by 2050, despite his open opposition to the policy.