Reef-Coloured Glasses

This cartoon is titled 'Reef Coloured Glasses', by Jon Kudelka, The Saturday Paper, 26th of June 2021. Underwater, snorkelers wearing goggles tinted with rainbow stripes dive down towards a reef of bleached white coral. On the surface above, a tourist boat’s canopy is emblazoned, 'Scomo's Reef-Coloured Glasses Tours'.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has the wheel while Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce shovels coal into a boiler that emits thick black smoke. Morrison says, 'I’m all about the technology driven approach, Barnaby'. In the distance, ships piled with coal also emit dark fumes from their smokestacks.

Label text: Rising ocean temperatures due to global warming pose an existential threat to reef systems around the world. In June, a draft report released by UNESCO proposed listing the Great Barrier Reef as 'World Heritage in Danger'. Strong, and ultimately successful, lobbying by the federal government against the listing included taking more than a dozen foreign ambassadors snorkelling on the reef.