Joshua Robertson writes in The Guardian (7.1.14) that ‘there is speculation that the early election was timed to avoid a potential piece of very bad news that may emerge in either February or March: Unesco’s decision on whether to recommend the Great Barrier Reef be listed as endangered.
Such a move – amid the government’s support for a controversial plan to allow one of the world’s biggest coalmines to increase shipping traffic through reef waters – would be a bad look for an administration that embraces tourism as one of the “four pillars” of the state economy.’