Healthy Reef to pay its own way
KNOWING THE TRUE VALUE OF THE REEF, PERHAPS IT WILL MAKE IT SOMEWHAT EASIER FOR THE FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS TO INCREASE FUNDING AND PROTECTION EFFORTS
CATHERINE PHAM PROTECTING the Great Barrier Reef and its 64,000 direct and indirect jobs should be a major priority.
A new report from Deloitte Access Economics has found the Great Barrier Reef’s value to be $56 billion – more than 12 Sydney Opera Houses or the cost of building Australia’s new submarine fleet.
The report examines the economic, social, icon and brand value of the Reef to gauge its value to Australians and understand how the international community values it.
The biggest win is around the number of jobs that the Reef provides for Queenslanders and Australians.
With Queensland being the home to this international icon, the 64,000 direct and indirect jobs supported by the Reef signals just how important its health is to our economy and to businesses which rely on it.
Put into perspective, this figure is greater than the number of jobs provided by most of Australia’s major banks and many businesses considered “too big to fail”, including the likes of Qantas and Telstra.
It’s really just as important to make sure we protect these jobs, through protecting our Reef, as it is to find ways to grow the employment numbers by sustainably leveraging its unique value proposition.
More could be done to market the Reef, based on its sig- nificance from the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional owners.
This will create jobs for the community, tie in nicely to the current tourism offerings we have and essentially ensure that the industry is moving in line with the consumer’s desire for a more authentic and cultural experience.
Undoubtedly the tourism industry would not be the powerhouse it is here in Queensland, if it weren’t for the Reef.
If we look specifically at just the Reef regions, their portion of the total value from the tourism activity is $2.4 billion, a figure that would be near impossible to replace for these regions if the natural wonder no longer existed.
While there have been substantial improvements in policies around the protection of the Reef, the report reinforces that more should be done to ensure it remains there for future generations.
As the report so rightly states, the Reef is the natural asset contributing most powerfully to Australia’s global brand.
Now knowing the true value of the Reef, perhaps it will make it somewhat easier for the federal and state governments to increase funding and protection efforts to ensure that $56 billion figure grows instead of declines.
Businesses in central and north Queensland understand very well what the health of the Reef means for them.
We know negative reports about the health of the Reef have a ripple effect on the bottom line, affecting many tourism businesses in the region and businesses that rely on a strong Australian branding, particularly around our strong environmental credentials.
Catherine Pham is the senior policy adviser at CCIQ