The Great Barrier Reef is a natural wonder of the world and one of our most significant economic assets. With three thousand coral reefs, more than a thousand islands, multiple habitats, significant biodiversity, and multiple marine animals including more than thirty species of mammals like whales, dolphins and dugong, it is a massive, complex, natural ecosystem of unrivalled beauty. The Reef is of great cultural significance, too. It is important for the cultures of more than seventy traditional owner groups, and, just like vegemite, Uluru, the koala, and the Boxing Day test, it is also part of the collective Australian identity.

SUBJECTS: Labor’s announcement on increasing Indigenous rangers programs; COVID cases increasing; Omicron variant; healthcare; Labor’s call for free rapid antigen testing; Labor’s policy agenda.

An Albanese Labor Government will commit $163 million to conserve the Great Barrier Reef and support the tens of thousands of jobs that depend on it.

SUBJECTS: Great Barrier Reef; COVID cases increasing; Omicron variant; healthcare; Labor’s call for free rapid antigen testing; Queensland economy; Labor’s policy agenda; Federal election; Novak Djokovic.

Four years after the promised review came and went, today’s announcement that the Morrison Government will partner with the First Nations Heritage Alliance on a co-design process for considering cultural heritage reform is welcome but woefully overdue.

An Albanese Labor Government will work with community groups to fix up our local waterways - restoring precious habitat and creating valuable recreational spaces for local communities.

Today’s water announcements from the Morrison-Joyce and Perrottet governments show the extent of their serious delays and mismanagement.

PATRICIA KARVELAS, HOST: Terri Butler is the shadow environment and water minister. She's also my guest, Terri Butler. Hello. 
 
TERRI BUTLER, SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Hi, Patricia. How are you? 

The Morrison-Joyce Government's woeful track record on biodiversity conservation does not stand Australia in good stead for the Conference of the Parties (COP15).

The Morrison-Joyce Government has decided to downgrade threatened species recovery, with a move to drop recovery plans for 157 threatened species, after they failed to meet statutory deadlines in almost every case.