SUBJECTS: Protection of the Great Barrier Reef, Matildas, interest rates.

PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: Well, United Nations scientific advisers have stopped short of labelling the Great Barrier Reef as in danger but argue the reef still remains under serious threat.

Let’s go to Canberra. Joining us live now is the Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek. Minister, good to see you – suitably attired this morning with that scarf. I don’t know why I don’t have a scarf on by the way, but what a result it was, hey? We’ll start there.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: I’d like to see you in one of those Matilda’s bucket hats – they’re pretty cool.

STEFANOVIC: Hey, I don’t mind the bucket hat. That’s a good idea. I’ll try that for the round of 16. Will you be heading out there at all?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, in fact, I was at the – I was at the first game out at Homebush. That was fantastic. Great crowd, you know, great enthusiasm. It was wonderful to see parents taking their kids there. And it was a wonderful thing. Only got to watch the highlights last night because I had a work function on in the evening. But, you know, those highlights were real highlights, weren’t they?

STEFANOVIC: Yeah, they were proper highlights. Yeah, well they’ve got another chance, the round of 16. Who we face we don’t know – we’ll work that out tonight.

But anyway, a year ago the reef was in danger of losing its World Heritage status, now it’s not. So what’s changed in that time?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, the actions of our government have changed. UNESCO, which is the UN body that’s responsible for looking after these World Heritage properties said very clearly before the election that they thought the reef should be listed as in danger. Since then we’ve worked very closely with UNESCO and, most particularly, with the Queensland government. We’ve invested $1.2 billion of additional funding to protect the reef and we’re acting on water quality, we’re acting on fisheries management, we’re working with traditional owners to deal with problems like crown of thorns starfish and marine plastics.

But the biggest change, of course, is there’s now a government in Australia that is acting on climate change, and that’s the biggest difference that UNESCO has identified as well. They’ve said in the past that between the previous government and this government it’s a bit like night and day. Because we have a legislated pathway to net zero, because we’re investing in renewable energy, we’ve got the 82 per cent renewable energy target, we’re acting on methane, on ozone, on electric vehicles, on helping to electrify homes and businesses, all of this has meant that UNESCO is convinced that we’re doing whatever we can to protect the reef from the impacts of climate change.

STEFANOVIC: Right –

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Now this isn’t to say we’re out of the woods. Every coral reef in the world is in danger from climate change. We need to be part of the global solution to act on climate change.

STEFANOVIC: So, I get the funding, I get the ambition. I get all of that. But in real terms what action has been taken to boost the health of the reef, or is this determination based on forecasts?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No, we’re actually working right now with the Queensland government to – just as an example – to start the work to stabilise gully banks. Like, we know that sediment is a huge problem for the reef, so we’re doing engineering works with the Queensland government identifying where we need to put in the biggest, you know, physical on-the-ground effort to stop that sediment running into the reef. That’s just one example.

The UNESCO also identified the fact that we prevented that central Queensland coal project going ahead because of the impact on the reef. They also identified the fact that we’ve cancelled two big dam projects which would have had a negative impact on water quality as protecting the reef.

STEFANOVIC: Okay.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: We’re working on projects like crown of thorns starfish. I saw the great work that some of our Indigenous rangers are doing out there you know, injecting poisons into crown of thorns starfish in the water – fins-in-the-water work to protect the reef. That’s what’s making the difference.

STEFANOVIC: How much lobbying had to go on behind the scenes with UNESCO?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, I think it was very important that I spoke to the director-general directly on several occasions. I spoke to UNESCO staff. I spoke to the UNESCO ambassadors of other countries to put Australia’s case. Nobody takes projecting the reef more seriously than Australia does. Nobody takes this responsibility more seriously than I do. I don’t need the UN to tell me to look after the reef – that is core business for me. It’s core business for Australia, and I made that case.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. Just elsewhere, Minister, we just heard from CommSec, they’re forecasting that there will be a rate rise today. Now, economists are split on this, but if they do, do you have concerns that the RBA and these rate rises will run the economy into a recession?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, I’m really concerned most of all for the impact on families that are already doing it tough. We know that Australians are struggling to make ends meet in a lot of cases. And that’s why we’re really working to keep inflation low. Our Treasurer Jim Chalmers is doing everything he can to take inflationary pressures out of the economy. But we’re also helping families directly with the cost of living.

We’ve seen millions of Australians get a wage rise after the previous government confessed that they had a deliberate part of their economic management was keeping wages low. We support people getting a wage rise. And, you know, people like aged care workers getting thousands of dollars extra a year, that is a good thing in our view. Half price medicines, free visits to the doctor, free TAFE, cheaper child care, energy bill relief, free TAFE – we’re doing whatever we can to help Australians by taking a little bit of pressure off the family budget.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. Tanya Plibersek, appreciate your time as always. We’ll talk to you again soon.