With debate raging over the creeping commercialisation of our national parks, the just-announced dollar valuation of the Great Barrier Reef has thrown yet more fuel on the nature V development debate.
In a new report, Deloitte Access Economics looked at the total ‘economic, social and icon value’ of the reef and found it contributed A$6.4bn to Australia’s economy and supported 64,000 jobs.
To put that in perspective, the National Australia Bank creates 34,000 direct jobs, Telstra 33,000 and Qantas 26,000. And the report values the Great Barrier Reef at more than double that of Adani’s planned coal mine and related infrastructure in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
“This report sends a clear message that the Great Barrier Reef – as an ecosystem, as an economic driver, as a global treasure – is too big to fail,” said Steve Sargent, director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which commissioned the report. “As the largest living structure on earth and one of the world’s most complex and diverse natural ecosystems, the Great Barrier Reef is justifiably considered priceless and irreplaceable.”
The study, based on six months of analysis, comes as the reef has suffered its second straight year of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures. It has also been damaged by farming run-off, development and the crown-of-thorns starfish.
Lead author, Deloitte Access’s John O’Mahony, said the report looked at the reef’s contribution in multiple ways.
“We’ve been able to look at it as an ‘asset’ that has incredible value on multiple fronts,” he said. “From its biodiversity and job creating potential to its support for critical industries and standing among international visitors to Australia.”
