ABC AM Breakfast interview with Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek

SUBJECTS: UNESCO draft decision on the Great Barrier Reef, water quality, climate change.

KIM LANDERS, HOST: The Great Barrier Reef has escaped being listed as in danger for another year. But a UN body is warning that the reef's still under serious threat from climate change and water pollution. The draft decision from UNESCO is a reprieve for the federal and Queensland governments, which will have to provide a progress report in February or once again risk the reef's world heritage status. Tanya Plibersek is the Federal Environment Minister. Minister, are you relieved by this reprieve?

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Look, of course I'm relieved because there's 64,000 jobs that rely on the reef in Queensland. And I think it's terrific that UNESCO has recognised the strong action that our government has taken on the environment. They've made it very clear that between the previous government and this government, it's like night and day. That's what they told Le Monde. And the biggest difference, of course, is our determination to act on climate change.

They've singled that out as an important change. But, of course, working with the Queensland government to improve water quality, to improve land management practices, to improve fisheries practices, including banning gillnet fishing by 2027, all of these have contributed to this decision. It was very clear before the election that the reef was headed for an ‘in danger’ listing, and since then, UNESCO have said that they will not recommend that ‘in danger’ listing. But of course, this doesn't mean we sort of put our feet up and say, job done. We've got a really big job to do to protect the reef in the future.

LANDERS: Speaking of that job, UNESCO does say that the reef is still under serious threat. One of its big concerns is the slow progress on hitting water quality targets. Are improvements achievable before you have to provide another progress report in February?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Absolutely improvements are achievable and in fact, we set aside an extra $150 million in our last funding round to accelerate efforts towards water quality improvement. And we've really got to do this not as a sort of cottage industry, small project by small project, but on an industrial scale. And we're doing that planning with the Queensland government at the moment. We're mapping where the biggest sediment is flowing onto the reef, and we're doing big engineering works like gully bank stabilisation to improve that water quality.

Of course, water quality is a serious issue here. Water quality is one of the reasons that I refused the Clive Palmer coal mine. We were very worried about leaks from the tailings dam of that coal mine from getting into streams that would then flow onto the reef. We also, of course, have not proceeded with two very large dam projects that were going to impact water quality on the reef as well. We know that water quality is a serious issue. And we're very keen to work with banana growers and the sugar cane industry to make sure that they're using best practice as well, because we've got to keep that nitrogen off the reef too.

LANDERS: There are also some other problems facing the reef. Marine scientists are reporting that the water in some parts of the reef is already four degrees warmer than normal for this time of year. And we're not even into what could be an El Niño summer. It means that there could be another mass coral bleaching event. Do we need to do more?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Always. We always need to do more. And one of the most important things we can do is play our role internationally in keeping temperatures below those catastrophic rises that we fear. That's why we've got a target of net zero by 2050 and we've legislated that target. It's why we've got our 43 per cent emissions reduction target in place. It's why we're investing heavily in green hydrogen. It's why we've got our target of 82 per cent renewable energy. It's why we're acting on methane and ozone, electric vehicles, electrification of homes and businesses.

We need to do our share globally to keep temperature rises lower. But we are part of a global community and UNESCO also recognises that the world has to act. Of course, if the Great Barrier Reef is in danger, all coral reefs are in danger. If this World Heritage property is in danger, then all World Heritage properties are in danger. We've got a global responsibility to act to protect nature from the impacts of climate change.

LANDERS: Scientists say that the best thing that the Albanese government could do to protect the Great Barrier Reef is to say no to new coal, oil and gas projects. Why won't the government establish a climate trigger in federal laws that would force you to take into account the damage from the emissions of those sorts of projects when assessing whether or not to approve them?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, because we've got our safeguard mechanism in place that does exactly that. It makes sure that every large project approved in Australia is within our trajectory to net zero. That's what the safeguard mechanism is all about. We know that we've got a massive job to do with approving those renewable energy projects and the transmission lines that will get our renewable energy into our homes and businesses. We are undergoing a massive transformation of our energy grid here in Australia so that we do our share as part of the global community to get to net zero.

LANDERS: But, Minister, some of the scientists that I've been speaking to are describing some of those measures as low hanging fruit. They really say that this climate trigger needs to be at the top of the government's to do list.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, and I guess the response to that is we are part of the global community. We're on a trajectory to net zero. We are determined to do our share. This government is acting as no Australian government has ever acted before. The previous government had 22 separate energy and climate policies and never achieved one of them. This recognition from UNESCO is in large part because of the big change when it comes to climate policy from this government. And we have, of course, I've prevented a number of coal mines going ahead because of their impact in the first instance on the Great Barrier Reef. But projects need to meet the requirements of the safeguard legislation that this parliament passed recently. That's how we get to net zero.

LANDERS: All right, Minister, thank you very much for joining AM.