Federal Labor pledges $30M to upgrade ageing ReefHQ as part of marine and reef plan

The ageing Reef HQ facility on Flinders St has been promised a much needed multimillion-dollar upgrade if Labor wins at the upcoming Federal Election, delivering jobs for Townsville.

THE ageing Reef HQ facility on Flinders St will get a much needed multimillion-dollar upgrade if Labor takes government at the upcoming federal election.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will today reveal Labor’s $100 million marine and reef science plan for Northern Australia, which includes $30 million for the redevelopment of Reef HQ and $26 million over four years for the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole said the Reef HQ investment would put money back into the “vital” tourist attraction, highlight its education, tourism and research capacity and deliver jobs for Townsville.

“Reef HQ is an international facility that is in desperate need of a major facelift,” she said.

“Townsville cannot afford to lose this vital research, education and tourism asset.

“Reef HQ hasn’t received any substantial building investment since it was built apart from Labor’s investment in solar energy.”

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A funding commitment to redevelop Reef HQ has been a key focus of Townsville Enterprise this election.

Herbert MP Cathy O'Toole outside the Reef HQ in Townsville

Chief executive Patricia O’Callaghan previously said the Federal Government should be investing significantly into the asset as the “front door to the world’s leading marine science research, reef recovery, and protection agencies”.

“Unfortunately however, Reef HQ has been neglected by successive Governments and is now ageing infrastructure well beyond its effective life,” she said.

Townsville Enterprise, in its Federal Budget submission, lobbied for $80 million to upgrade Reef HQ as part of its larger ‘Northern Australia STEAM Precinct and Regional Collaborator’ plan.

Mr Shorten said the scale of the challenges facing the reef, from bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 and a controversial half-billion dollar grant to a privately-run reef charity was a sign of “the neglect of science in Northern Australia” by the Coalition.

Labor yesterday vowed to strip the privately-run Great Barrier Reef Foundation, an organisation with six full-time staff, of the $443 million grant and redistribute the funds to other public agencies.

It is understood the $100 million announced yesterday will not come from that pot.

The money handed to the GBRF during Malcolm Turnbull’s time as Prime Minister was criticised for lacking an open tender process.

Labor will also spend $10 million upgrading research vessel Cape Ferguson used by AIMS and $35 million to fund a new Australian Research Council ‘Special Research Initiative into Reef Collaboration and Adaptation’.

The ARC initiative would “conduct vital discovery research.”

Originally published as Federal Labor pledges $30M to upgrade ageing ReefHQ as part of marine and reef plan