Overview

• The $33.5 million Reef Assist program delivers environmental projects and creates regional jobs for Queenslanders in the Great Barrier Reef catchment.
• The program has created alternative employment opportunities in highly tourism-dependent regions impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It has also delivered a range of environmental outcomes, including those linked to the Queensland Government’s ongoing priority of protecting the Great Barrier Reef.

Targets

• The Reef Assist program has three main focus areas:
  • employment of people in regional areas
  • training people to ensure upskilling and leading to improved job prospects
  • undertaking on-ground environmental projects within the catchments that lead to the Great Barrier Reef.
• A focus has been on providing job and training opportunities for First Nations people, including the opportunity to work on Country.

Outcomes

On-ground project activities

The following activities have led to local environmental benefits and improved water quality for waterways flowing to the Great Barrier Reef:

• gully and streambank restoration
• riparian revegetation
• natural wetland restoration
• cane drainage management systems
• urban development erosion management
• pastoral land management.

Environmental outcomes

From 2020 to the end of December 2024 (noting some projects are ongoing), the following activities led to environmental outcomes:

• 138,000 plants were planted through the Reef Assist 2.0 program
• 111,000 plants were planted through the Reef Assist 1.0 program
• 160,000 plants were propagated through the Reef Assist 2.0 program
• 70,000 plants were propagated through the Reef Assist 1.0 program
• 60 hectares of gully remediation projects from Reef Assist 1.0 and 2.0
• 56.4 hectares of riparian revegetation project from Reef Assist 1.0 and 2.0
• A projected 3,070 tonnes of sediment reduction and 0.38 tonnes of nitrogen reduction per year from Reef Assist 2.0 projects lead to water quality benefits for the Great Barrier Reef.

Employment outcomes

• Reef Assist projects have employed and trained First Nations people, with 54% of people employed through the 11 Reef Assist 2.0 program identifying as First Nations, many of these youth.
• In Reef Assist 2.0, 109 First Nations people have been employed.
• Some of the First Nations people employed in Reef Assist 1.0 have continued their employment with the projects under Reef Assist 2.0.