A recent ABC story announced “Federal parties compete on marine protection”. But are they really competing? So far, neither of the two major parties has said anything about ocean protection.

Why is this important? Because, as Pacific leaders know well, the ocean sustains life, it sustains every second breath we take, it drives our weather and there are countless other reasons. So, in the current policy vacuum, let’s compare the record of the Albanese Government to the previous three years of the Morrison Government.

The biggest environmental achievement of Albanese’s term has been the creation of new marine parks. This has happened in three stages. The first was Australia’s Macquarie Island Marine Park which lies half-way between Australia and Antarctica. The park was first established by the Howard Government in 1999. It provides important migration, feeding and breeding sites for an abundance of penguins, seals, whales and seabirds. Minister Tanya Plibersek tripled its size – without doubt, a globally significant outcome. But in the heart of the marine park, the government allowed two commercial fishing companies to continue industrial-scale longlining, targeting Patagonian toothfish.

The government also announced a quadrupling of the size of the Heard Island and McDonald Island Marine Reserve, close to Antarctica. It’s home to elephant seals, fur seals, macaroni penguins and albatross. Conservation groups welcomed the announcement, but expressed disappointment that the government had “missed” a rare opportunity to protect globally important feeding grounds for many of these iconic species. This is especially disappointing given many penguin species are highly vulnerable to climate change and are declining in numbers or even facing extinction. Due to time constraints, the government put in place transitional arrangements for the marine reserve. That means the next government will have to confirm the long-term plan for the reserve. Given the tepid reaction to the government’s announcement, it’s likely, but not certain, that a Coalition Government would support Labor’s plan.

Continuing the focus on southern Australia, in February the government tabled a management plan that creates the Southeast Marine Reserve Network: nearly 81,000 square kms of new marine sanctuaries. Conservation groups were more positive about this plan, especially the commitment to ban new oil and gas extraction, seismic blasting and carbon capture and storage in all the new marine reserves. However, the plan also allows industrial-scale longliners to access 11,000 square kms that had previously been closed to fishing.

The Southeast management plan, tabled on 13 February, is a disallowable instrument. Unfortunately, the election was called before 15 sitting days had expired. We have been here before. Former environment minister Tony Burke’s marine park management plans were still on the notice paper when Kevin Rudd called the 2013 election. Prime minister Tony Abbott immediately tossed them out and new marine sanctuaries were not introduced for another five years. Moreover, the Coalition cut the level of protection, especially in the Coral Sea between the Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia. It is extraordinary that the Labor Government has let the clock run out again.

So how do these three major steps compare to the previous three years of Coalition Government? Former environment minister Sussan Ley approved the creation of two very large marine sanctuaries, totalling 770,000 square kms, a much larger area than established under the Albanese Government, though the value of a marine park isn’t determined by size alone. Location and environmental values are extremely important. The Morrison Government banned fishing and oil and gas extraction in these new marine sanctuaries, which were established off Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. Both are a highly significant addition to Australia’s protected area estate.

It’s fair to say that both the Morrison and Albanese Governments have a reasonably solid record in creating new marine sanctuaries.

There’s been a lot of press about the failure of the Albanese Government to reform Australia’s national environmental law, the EPBC Act. The Act has been attacked many times as being broken, but the minister can make bold decisions under the Act, if she chooses to do so. Plibersek rejected two major developments under the Act that, if approved, would have harmed the ocean. She rejected Clive Palmer’s proposed central Queensland coal mine near the Great Barrier Reef coastline, not because of its greenhouse gas emissions but because of the risk of polluted mine water damaging the Reef. She also indicated she would reject a $1.4 billion tourism and mixed-use development at Toondah Harbour, Moreton Bay. The development threatened a globally listed Ramsar wetland, migratory birds, dugongs, turtles and dolphins. The developer, the Walker Corporation, saw the writing on the wall and withdrew the application. Ley did not face such controversial development decisions that would have directly threatened our coasts and ocean during her term.

But both Ley and Plibersek made multiple coal and gas approval decisions under the Act which indirectly harm the ocean. Ley’s Narrabri gas project approval and Plibersek’s approval for the Gina Rinehart-backed Senex Energy to develop 151 coal seam gas wells in inland Queensland are just two examples. Both governments have defied the International Energy Agency’s warning about new coal and gas projects driving the world beyond the Paris Agreement temperature goal of 1.5°C. And who can forget Ley challenging a duty of care for young people in the Federal Court?

The abiding memory of the Albanese Government’s environmental record may be the prime minister overriding Plibersek more than once over environmental law reform. His final act was to rush through an amendment to prioritise jobs in the salmon farming industry over the survival of an ancient Gondwanan endemic species, the Maugean skate, found only in Macquarie Harbour, in Tasmania’s southwest. This was after Labor had promised during the 2022 election “to make sure our environmental laws work better for environmental protection”.

Australia’s world-famous marine ecosystem — the Great Barrier Reef — is loved by all Australians and both major parties know it. As a result, both are highly sensitive to scrutiny by UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee about their management of the World Heritage-listed icon. UNESCO has continued to express “utmost concern” about the state of the Reef and requested “urgent action”. Both the Morrison and Albanese Governments have been annoyed about being “singled out” by UNESCO over climate change impacts on the Reef and have invested considerable diplomatic effort to allay any concerns by these bodies. The Morrison Government announced $1 billion over eight years to 2030 to protect the Reef in order to impress UNESCO, and the Albanese Government added $200 million, to demonstrate its greater commitment. Due to pressure from the Committee, gill net fishing is being phased out of the World Heritage area and will be completely stopped by mid-2027. This is a significant conservation victory for dugongs, turtles and inshore dolphins that have drowned in these nets over many years. But most of the credit for delivering this win is due to the former Queensland Labor Government, not the federal government or its Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

I can’t overlook the low point when Plibersek failed to release a media statement when the five-yearly Great Barrier Reef 2024 Outlook Report was released on 23 August last year. This is a huge piece of work, required by law. Environment ministers have always released these reports. This time, the report was slipped out on a Friday afternoon on the Marine Park Authority’s website. Its findings? The outlook for the Reef is “very poor”. The same day, Plibersek was in Townsville with Albanese, announcing funds to improve Reef water quality. She made no reference to the report which was released a few hours later.

As I write this on 16 April, another report, the Reef Snapshot: summer 2024-25, has been quietly posted on the websites of the Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. The report finds “Prolonged heat stress throughout the Far Northern and Northern regions of the Reef caused widespread bleaching, the sixth event since 2016.” No media statement has been released by either the Reef Authority or the minister.

Our international ocean advocacy has usually been bipartisan: the last six years were no different. Both the Albanese and Morrison Governments have advocated for treaties to reduce plastic pollution and protect high seas biodiversity.

When it comes to ocean protection, there’s not a lot of difference between the two major parties, at least over the last six years. This is both a good and a bad thing. Bipartisanship is good. But both parties are not doing enough. The ocean is in a great deal of trouble, and that means we are. If you have any doubt about that, read this.

Our current election is dominated by the cost-of-living crisis, but we also need to recognise that the cost of our living is being borne by the ocean and its thousands of defenceless species. The two majors need to respond to this crisis as well.