Julie Bishop will use climate talks in Peru to argue Great Barrier Reef is not in danger

THE government claims there is no danger and the UN is at risk of being duped, but experts say what the government is telling defies all available science.

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2014 file photo, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop addresses a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Iraq at the United Nations headquarters. Australia will continue to directly pay for climate change adaptation in vulnerable South Pacific island nations through its aid budget rather than donate to a U.N. Green Climate Fund designed for the same purpose, Bishop said Friday, Dec. 5, ahead of climate talks in Peru. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop will use climate talks in Peru to argue the Great Barrier Reef isn’t in danger.

She’ll also warn UNESCO it’s at risk of being duped by activists.

Ms Bishop will lobby members of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee not to list the reef as a World Heritage site in danger next year, saying this could set a dangerous precedent that could affect the home countries of committee members.

“Every country that has an environmental icon that activists seize upon would be at risk,” she will say, according to The Courier-Mail.

“There is no justification for an in-danger listing by the World Heritage Committee.” The World Heritage Committee will meet next June to decide whether to formally declare the reef as an asset in danger.

The government’s claim the reef is not in danger defies all science, according to a reef expert.

The conservation group WWF Australia says Ms Bishop’s position is disappointing, given Australia’s own scientists are saying the government’s efforts on reef protection are severely lacking.

“It’s very disappointing that our foreign minister is trying to frighten foreign governments, instead of Australia taking strong action,” WWF’s Great Barrier Reef coastal campaign manager Louise Matthiesson told AAP.

Australian reef expert Terry Hughes has said the Abbott government’s claim the reef is not in danger defies all available science.

The director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies last month said there was a disconnect between the government’s position and what scientists across the globe are saying.

The government’s own reef outlook report, released earlier this year, found the reef is in poor condition and deteriorating, with climate change the primary threat, Prof Hughes said.