Australian Opposition Leader pledges to save Great Barrier Reef

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten, speaking in Cairns yesterday, pledged an A$500 million fund towards research and programs to help protect Australia's environmental icon The Great Barrier Reef.

Recent surveys indicated coral bleaching has killed more than a third of coral in the Great Barrier Reef's north and central regions. "All of this", said Mr Shorten, "is at risk if serious action is not taken to protect it. The Great Barrier Reef is an environmental treasure Australia holds on trust for the world".

The Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies performed the surveys. Bleaching is associated with higher-than-average water temperatures resulting from El Niño events, affected by climate change.

ARC said bleaching had affected all but seven percent of the reef. This bleaching event is the third of its kind with notable occurrences in 1998 and 2002. This event in particular has had the biggest impact on the reef so far.

Two weeks ago, James Cook University scientists said the government would have to commit A$10 billion over the next decade or the reef would be incurable in half that time.

Mr Shorten's $500 million investment in research and protection of the reef would be spread over four years.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Related news

"Scientists shocked at Great Barrier Reef bleaching" — Wikinews, February 1, 2006

Sources

Ritwik Roy. "Australia’s Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching to continue; 35% corals already dead in northern and central parts" — International Business Times, May 30, 2016
Naomi Woodley. "Great Barrier Reef: Shorten pledges $500m as surveys reveal mass coral die-offs" — ABC News (Australia), May 30, 2016
Susmita Pathak Mishra. "Great Barrier Reef: Shorten Fights for Dead Coral Reefs" — Australia Network News, May 30, 2016
Tibi Puiu. "Global warming kills half of coral on the Northern Great Barrier Reef" — ZME Science, May 30, 2016
Malcolm Farr. "Labor pledges $500 million for Great Barrier Reef" — The Cairns Post, May 30, 2016
"Federal election last chance for the reef - JCU scientists" — James Cook University, May 19, 2016

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License