1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:03,920 Speaker 1: Good morning everyone, Happy Monday. It has been a massive 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: weekend in the news, bu Zara and I here to 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: take you all through it. There's a lot of COVID 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: updates to get through, but then we're going to have 5 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: a bit of a longer chat about the great Barrier 6 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: reef Zara. How was your weekend? 7 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 2: I mean, we hit the one month mark of lockdown 8 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 2: and it was commemorated in the best way possible with 9 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,799 Speaker 2: a whole lot of people congregating without masks and likely 10 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,639 Speaker 2: without vaccinations. So really just a great. 11 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: Weekend all round. It's going to be a few days 12 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: until we see whether that materializes in further COVID cases. 13 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: But how did the COVID cases look yesterday? 14 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,479 Speaker 2: Yesterday New South Wales recorded one hundred and forty one 15 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 2: locally acquired cases and thirty eight of those were infectious. 16 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: In the community. 17 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 2: There was a record number of tests over one hundred thousand, 18 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 2: which is just unbelievable. Sadly, the state also recorded another 19 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 2: two COVID related deaths, including one woman in her thirties. 20 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 2: Premia Gladispiagiclian said this about the tragic death in. 21 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 3: Her seventies, but also a woman in her thirties with 22 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,679 Speaker 3: no pre existing conditions. So if anybody thinks this is 23 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 3: a disease just affecting older people, please think again. 24 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 2: Victoria had some better news with just eleven locally acquired 25 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 2: cases and all of those cases were linked and nobody 26 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 2: was infectious in the community. South Australia recorded three locally 27 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 2: acquired cases and two of those were associated with a 28 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 2: Modbury hospital cluster. 29 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: Some news from those protests that we were talking about 30 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: at the top of the podcast, Sara. Two men have 31 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: been charged with animal cruelty for striking a police horse 32 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: during the anti lockdown protest in Sydney on Saturday. It's 33 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: worth mentioning as well that these protests were not just 34 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: in Sydney, they were in Brisbane and Melbourne as well. 35 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: Fifty seven attendees at the Sydney rally have been formally 36 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: charged and ninety infringement notices were issued. Over two thousand 37 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: attendees have been identified after five and a half thousand 38 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: reports were made by members of the public two crime stoppers. 39 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: This came after Police Minister David Elliott gave a massive 40 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: call out for anyone with social media footage to upload 41 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: their content onto the Crime Stoppers database. He said yesterday 42 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:08,959 Speaker 1: that he is very confident all three and a half 43 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: thousand people at the protest will be identified. Only hours 44 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: after the protests on Saturday, Police Minister David Elliott fronted 45 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: the media and he did not mince words. 46 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 2: What we saw today were three and a half thousand 47 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 2: very selfish bullfeits, people that thought that the law didn't 48 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 2: apply to them. Australia's world number one Ash Barty has 49 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 2: sadly lost the opening round of the Olympics tennis women's 50 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:37,359 Speaker 2: singles against Spain's saras Or Rebez Tormo yesterday. Barty had 51 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 2: two break points up fifteen forty, but lost in straight 52 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 2: sets six y four, six y three. The good news is, however, 53 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 2: Barti is not out of the Olympics completely and she's 54 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 2: set to compete in the women's doubles with her partner 55 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 2: Storm Standards. 56 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: That might be good news, but this is better news. 57 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: Australia has won its first gold medal of the Olympic 58 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: Games with the four x one hundred women's freestyle relay team. 59 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: The swimmers of Bruntie Campbell, cap Campbell, Emma mckinn and 60 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: Meg Harris, and they finished in three minutes twenty nine 61 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: point seven eight, ahead of Canada and the US. This 62 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: was actually a new world record. The team beat their 63 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: previous record, which they set themselves at the twenty eighteen 64 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. I'd say it was the best 65 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: way possible for us to start our gold medal count. 66 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: And there is plenty of more action in the pool 67 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: in the coming days before we head to the track 68 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: next week. 69 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 2: So we've been covering this story about the Great Barrier 70 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 2: Reef for a couple of weeks now because there was 71 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 2: quite a lead up to Friday's monumental vote. So last 72 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 2: month UNESCO, which is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and 73 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 2: Cultural organization, I also didn't know what that acronym meant. 74 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 2: They recommended that the Great Barrier Reef should be placed 75 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 2: on a list of World Heritage sites that are deemed 76 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 2: what they call in danger. And the recommendation was formerly 77 00:03:57,080 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 2: made on Friday night at a really late night meeting 78 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 2: was held in China. 79 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: We've been hearing a little bit about this campaign from 80 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: the government to get the Barrier Reef not on this list. 81 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: Why is it so important that the Barrier Reef was 82 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: not included as a UNESCO's in dangerous site. 83 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 2: So the Australian government, and this was led by the 84 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 2: Environment Minister Susan Lee. They believed that the move was 85 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 2: political to add Australia's Great Barrier Reef to the list, 86 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 2: and they didn't believe that there had been due diligence 87 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 2: done or paid to the updates and the developments that 88 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 2: had happened in the Great Barrier Reef. So Susan Lee 89 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 2: at the very beginning of this said she accepted the 90 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 2: fact that climate change was playing a role in the 91 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 2: deterioration of the reef, that she didn't believe that investigators 92 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:43,720 Speaker 2: had really come out or looked into what was happening 93 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 2: in the reef enough that they could justify adding it 94 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 2: to this list. And she argued that there were many 95 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 2: other sites if we were using the justification that climate 96 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 2: change was really affecting it, that should be added to 97 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 2: the list ahead of the Great Barrier Reef. 98 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: And I think the really important note there is this 99 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: idea of site visits like it's really about. For Susan 100 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: Lee and the Australian government, the fact that they deemed 101 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 1: that the site hadn't been examined close enough by UNESCO 102 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: for this classification. 103 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 2: And so the Australian government did take it into their 104 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 2: own hands. So there was a really really significant lobbying 105 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 2: effort led by the government, and one part of this 106 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 2: was that they took out a whole lot of ambassadors 107 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 2: from countries that were going to have voting power. On 108 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 2: Friday night, they took the ambassadors that lived in Canberra 109 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 2: to the Great Barrier Reef to go have a look, 110 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 2: you know, with their own eyes. So that was one 111 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 2: part of the lobbying effort and that goes to what 112 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 2: the government have been arguing all along. But then on 113 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 2: the other side, Susan Lee actually flew to Europe earlier 114 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 2: this month to directly lobby the countries and not to 115 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 2: jump ahead. But it clearly worked because on Friday night 116 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 2: that motion did not pass in its original form and 117 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 2: the Great Barrier Reef was not immediately added to the 118 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 2: endangered list. Instead, it's going to be revisited in February 119 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 2: next next year. 120 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: So what evidence did the government rely on in attempting 121 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: to convince other countries that the reef was in good health? 122 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 2: So earlier in the week, the Australian Institute of Marine 123 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 2: Science's Annual Summary Report on coral reef condition, which is 124 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 2: a mouthful, was released and it basically said that conditions 125 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 2: have been relatively good for coral recovery during twenty twenty 126 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 2: and twenty twenty one. So the researchers surveyed one hundred 127 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 2: and twenty seven reefs and found that at least sixty 128 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,119 Speaker 2: nine of them had seen an increase in hard coral 129 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 2: cover since they were last surveyed. One of the team leaders, 130 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 2: Mike Emsley, said that this indicates that the recovery is 131 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 2: well underwagh, but this happened after a particularly intense decade 132 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 2: of disturbances prior to that, and so that's like saying 133 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 2: that something is doing better, but that the starting point 134 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 2: was really quite low because the improvements came after the 135 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 2: Great Barrier Reef experienced its most widespread bleaching event on record. 136 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,600 Speaker 2: The report also highlighted that while it is experiencing this 137 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 2: sort of recovery now, it's likely to be short lived. 138 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 2: And the quote was that there would be increasing prominence 139 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,239 Speaker 2: of climate related disturbances. While parts of that really aided 140 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 2: the government's argument, not all of it did. 141 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: And have we seen any anger from environmental groups and 142 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: other sides of politics after this decision. On Friday, Labour. 143 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 2: Came out pretty strongly after the decision was made, saying 144 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 2: that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee's decision to defer its 145 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 2: consideration of the Great Barrier reef is quote an indictment 146 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 2: on the Morrison government and said that the deferral was 147 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 2: temporary reprieve and they characterized this the best the Morrison 148 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 2: government could do would be kicking the can down the road. 149 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 2: Terry Butler, who is the Shadow Environment Minister, said that 150 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 2: the government must now dramatically lift their game on reef 151 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 2: protection and the government has been doing that. There have 152 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 2: been a number of announcements over the last few weeks 153 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 2: in funding and protection measures that they are putting in 154 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 2: place for the reef. And you asked about environmental groups, 155 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 2: so Greenpeace's CEO David Ritta said that this was a 156 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 2: victory for one of the most cynical lobbying efforts in 157 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 2: recent history. And so the jet setting around the world 158 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 2: at the great expense to taxpayers to block a decision 159 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 2: that would demand climate action is a slap in the 160 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 2: face to all Australians who love and care about our 161 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 2: beautiful reef. Pretty strong words there. 162 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: It's one of those really interesting times in the news 163 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: cycle where environments and politics really are married up and 164 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: it has real life effects on our natural environment and 165 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: the way decisions are made, whilst the way these decisions 166 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: can be made con seem rather opaque at times. Will 167 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,199 Speaker 1: always do our best to explain what happens behind the scenes. Guys, 168 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,560 Speaker 1: there's a lot of COVID updates around today. Make sure 169 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: you follow us on the Daily OS and we'll bring 170 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:40,199 Speaker 1: you that news as soon as it happens. Stay safe 171 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 1: and have a great start to the week.