It will be Australia’s coldest, wettest and most isolated home renovation and could prove to be one of the greatest building challenges a group of intrepid builders has ever faced.

One Hundred Thousand corals will be planted on reefs in the Cairns and Port Douglas region through a world leading partnership between the Great Barrier Reef Foundation the University of Technology Sydney and five local tourism operators.

Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley visited McDonald’s in Manuka today to see the last handful of plastic straws left in the company’s once giant stockpile officially phased out.

Seventeen marine tourism operators along the Great Barrier Reef will take to the water from this week for reef site monitoring and maintenance, supporting up to 300 existing frontline jobs in the Reef’s tourism industry.

DNA tracking of native wildlife will be among the options to be implemented, following an independent review of Australia’s wildlife trade permit approvals.