Mr Borg, in response to widespread and negative media on the release of the Federal Government’s report card on the health of the Great Barrier Reef yesterday, said while Canegrowers Mackay acknowledged more needed to be achieved, there had been significant achievements recorded and recognised across Mackay and surrounding regions’ cane farms.
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The overall condition of the Great Barrier Reef’s inshore marine environment remains poor, the Queensland government report found.
THE 2014 report, released by Environment Minister Steven Miles at the RiverSymposium in Brisbane on Monday, also shows progress towards water quality improvement targets has slowed dramatically.
“Almost half (47 per cent) the grazing land in Great Barrier Reef catchments is managed using best management practice systems for streambank erosion, 28 per cent for erosion from pastures and nearly a quarter (24 per cent) for gully erosion”, Mr Hunt said.
“The Queensland Government is committed to working collaboratively with industry, regional bodies, research organisations and other interested stakeholders to drive accelerated changes that need to happen if we are going to protect the health and resilience of the Reef”.
Miles added that Unesco was right to be concerned over the state of the reef, but sugar cane farmers have questioned whether the government’s targets are too ambitious. But UNESCO has demanded that Australia must submit an update for its Reef 2050 plan to the World Heritage Centre by December 2016.
“I genuinely think they are making a difference”, he said.
“There’s more bad news here than good news”.
“It takes time for improvements in land management to translate into measurable outcomes in marine condition, ” he said.
Deputy Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek defended the LNP’s record, saying it had done more than any previous government.
However, the high targets came in for criticism from agriculturists.
The report found additionally that only 13 percent of sugar-cane growers were using recommended best-practice procedures for nutrients and only 30 percent for pesticides, meaning that runoff from agricultural land continues to cause damage to the reef.
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Calling up all agriculture segments to play a part in the task, Kealley urged the industry as well as community groups to optmise their contribution with combined efforts.
