Promise check: Provide additional funding for reef protection programs

At the 2022 election, Labor promised to provide additional funding for reef protection programs. Here's how that promise is tracking.

(Image supplied: Wilson Island, File photo)

During the election campaign, then opposition leader Anthony Albanese was critical of the Coalition's record on protecting the Great Barrier Reef.

In a press conference on Queensland's Fitzroy Island on May 13, 2022, Mr Albanese said the reef had been "neglected by this government, and at the end of its third term, they've decided to provide some funding for it".

"Well, we'll provide additional funding and today's announcement will do just that."

A media release distributed on the same day outlined the details of Labor's commitment — a $194.5 million investment over the forward estimates, including:

A pledge to continue and double funding for the Reef 2050 Plan, which currently ends in mid-2023, with an additional $94.5 million over the forward estimates
$85 million for shovel ready catchment and reef restoration projects
A one-off grant of $15 million for the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Research Centre at CQ University in Gladstone, to boost local research

These pledges were also contained in Labor's policy platform. The party's election costings slated $141.9 million of the investment to be spent by the end of the 2024-25 financial year.

This includes the grant to CQ University, which it has pledged to deliver in the 2022-23 financial year.

Assessing the promise

The full amount of Labor's promised investment extends beyond the current electoral cycle.

This promise will therefore be assessed against Labor's progress towards that full amount when the next election is called.

Labor must, however, provide the grant of $15 million to the CMERC during the 2022-23 financial year and the Reef 2050 Plan must be continued beyond mid-2023 for the promise to be delivered.

Here's how the promise is tracking:

19 May 2023

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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Promise check: Provide additional funding for reef protection programs