My youngest son was made redundant from a mining job, largely office based and applied for and was offered a job for a sugar co-op farmers 45 mins inland of Townsville. He's a hydrogeologist and his role would be to monitor water runoff into the GBR from the co-op's sugar farms, liaising with farmers, the EPA and other government agencies. He was provided with an extensive report of the state of the GBR at his initial interview. It stated in very clear terms that the GBR health wise is in trouble. This is not anecdotal, it is a fact. Farmers are getting on board and spending their own money to implement measures to alleviate and minimise water runoff from their cane farms into the reef. No government money, no fancy smancy office based pen pushers but responsible farmers who would not readily part with their money if the problem didn't exist. The problem is real, it's happening now and it's not anecdotal. He didn't accept the position but 12 months into his current job, largely office based, he is sorry he didn't.
