The Queensland government will step up efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef, starting with a summit and regular report cards on its health, Premier Anna Bligh says.
Ms Bligh on Wednesday released a report into water quality on the reef in 2007, saying the diagnosis was "not good".
According to the report, 6.6 million tonnes of sediment had been discharged into the reef - four times higher than estimated pre-European settlement levels.
Despite financial incentives for farmers to improve land management 16,600 tonnes of nitrogen and 4,180 tonnes of phosphorous was flushed into the reef.
Ms Bligh said the 10-year reef action plan launched in 2003 by former premier Peter Beattie and former prime minister John Howard needed to be accelerated due to climate change and other factors killing the reef.
Following a meeting with federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett on Monday, state cabinet agreed to give the plan "more grunt", with a revised intergovernmental agreement ahead of a significant revision of the reef plan, she said.
"The reality is the reef will die if we do not act," Ms Bligh told state parliament.
To help determine funding priorities, a joint commonwealth and state reef summit will be held in Brisbane later this month, bringing together environmentalists and scientists.
