Australia’s coral reef monitoring community includes some of the most long-established, well-resourced, and highly regarded monitoring programs on the planet. These teams have been leading efforts to understand reef health, from the iconic Great Barrier Reef to the remote reefs of Western Australia, for decades.

In the wake of the most widespread and severe mass coral bleaching ever recorded in Australian waters, which shattered heat records and impacted coral coastlines from east to west, the establishment of a formal GCRMN Australia Node feels both timely and long overdue.

Formal establishment of a GCRMN Australia node is an important step that makes a powerful statement: that as a community, Australia is committed to contributing its knowledge, data, and leadership to the global effort to track and report on coral reef status and trends through the GCRMN. It also reflects a shared commitment to bringing the world transparent, evidence-based stories about how our reefs are faring.

In September 2025, during the Australian Coral Reef Society Conference in Townsville, 66 representatives from across Australia’s coral reef monitoring community came together to show their support for the work of the GCRMN and explore how to strengthen our national collaboration. Participants included representatives from government agencies, academic institutions, citizen science and tourism programs, and included ecologists, social scientists, and reef managers.

Between them, they brought with them over four decades of monitoring experience, deep technical expertise and a long history of collaboration and innovation in reef monitoring. Many of the organisations at the workshop have collaborated for years; others were new connections, keen to build an even stronger and more inclusive national network.

In the months ahead, the community will work together to formalise the GCRMN Australia Node, establish a regional committee, and begin collaborating on Australia’s contribution to the next Global “Status of Coral Reefs” report.

This milestone represents not just better coordination and sharing of monitoring data, but a renewed sense of shared purpose and unity: ensuring Australia’s coral reef science continues to inform and strengthen our global understanding of reef change.

Thank you to the Australian Coral Reef Society and the Australian Institute of Marine Science for sponsoring the workshop.