Great Barrier Reef Intergovernmental Agreement
The Great Barrier Reef Intergovernmental Agreement 2009, signed by the Prime Minister and Queensland Premier in June 2009, provides a framework for the Australian and Queensland governments to work together to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
The Agreement recognises that key pressures on the Reef, such as climate change impacts, catchment water quality and coastal development, cannot be effectively addressed by either government on their own. The 2009 Intergovernmental Agreement replaces a 1979 Agreement - "The Emerald Agreement".
The new Agreement provides a contemporary framework for cooperation between the governments, recognising challenges such as climate change and catchment water quality that were not foreseen at the time of the 1979 Agreement.
Great Barrier Reef Ministerial Council
Implementation of the Intergovernmental Agreement is being driven by the Great Barrier Reef Ministerial Council.
The Ministerial Council is comprised of two Ministers each from the Australian and Queensland governments with responsibility for matters relating to the environment and marine parks, science, tourism and/or natural resource management. Ministers responsible for mining may not be members. The current members are:
- The Hon Peter Garrett AM MP - Australian Government Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts (Chair)
- The Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP - Australian Government Minister for Tourism
- The Hon Kate Jones MP - Queensland Government Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability
- The Hon Peter Lawlor MP - Queensland Government Minister for Tourism and Fair Trading.
The Ministerial Council's role is set out in the Intergovernmental Agreement. Protocols for its operation are set out in a schedule to the Agreement.
Meeting outcomes are reported in a Communiqué. The Ministerial Council met 32 times under the 1979 Emerald Agreement
The Ministerial Council held its first meeting under the new Intergovernmental Agreement on 3 July 2009.
