When you finally reach Scott Reef, way offshore from the Kimberley, it’s like arriving at an oasis.
asserted
it → reach → oasis
You can feel the atoll’s influence before it’s even visible.
asserted
it → feel → influence
The sea state changes.
asserted
state → change → ?
Then it rises from the ocean deep, in scalloping white lines of surf over shoals, suddenly too vast to take in.
asserted
it → rise → shoals
But when you reach the shining calm of the lagoon you see just what a refuge this is.
asserted
this → reach → lagoon
Everywhere you look, startled turtles pop up, manta rays roll and swirl, their black shapes sharp against the rippled white sand below.
asserted
shapes → look → sand
You haven’t even got into the water yet, and you’re counting off species like the sea-nerd you are.
asserted
you → get → nerd
It draws life to itself and creates more in return, and the sight of all that vigour erupting at the surface, so far from land, makes your blood fizz.
Just beyond the reef wall, everything falls away to the purple abyss.
asserted
everything → draw → abyss
Because you’re quite literally at the peak of a seamount.
asserted
you → ’re → seamount
And when you finally dive in, you know you’re experiencing a mountaintop moment.
asserted
you → dive → moment
You’ve swum in many coral gardens, but this is next level: the riot of colour, the intensity of life, the overwhelming remoteness, the sheer scale of it all.
asserted
this → swim → it
But like it or not, every sight and sensation is loaded with jeopardy.
asserted
sight → like → jeopardy
Because you know what this place is facing.
asserted
place → know → what
If Woodside and BP have their way.
asserted
Woodside → have → way
If federal Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – and yes, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook – put the reef’s fate in the hands of the fossil giants.
asserted
Watt → put → giants
You’re one of the lucky ones: you’ve lived long enough and were born early enough to see more than your share of marine wonders.
asserted
you → ’re → wonders
But your grandkids and their kids won’t see a fraction of what you have.
asserted
you → see → what
And the injustice of that kills you.
asserted
injustice → kill → you
The world’s coral reefs are dying.
asserted
reefs → die → ?
This is no longer a dire prediction – it’s something we’re experiencing together in real time.
asserted
we → ’ → time
They’re being cooked by climate breakdown.
asserted
They → cook → breakdown
And it’s not as if we weren’t warned.
asserted
we → ’ → ?
We had a generation to forestall the worst of this disaster, but we were duped by corporate lies, bewildered by propaganda designed to confuse us, and year upon year, as the evidence mounted and our pleas for urgent action grew more desperate, too little was done, and the best of our opportunities were pissed away.
asserted
best → have → opportunities
Where did the effort go?
asserted
effort → go → ?
Who got the attention during those crucial decades for climate action?
asserted
Who → get → action
Where did the taxpayer subsidies go?
asserted
subsidies → go → ?
Who had the ear of our leaders?
asserted
Who → have → leaders
Who did and spent more to shape consequential policy during the years that counted?
asserted
that → do → years
Big Gas, that’s who.
asserted
that → ’ → ?
It’s hard to think of an industry so enriched from the ruination of Australian places and futures as the gas export industry.
asserted
It → ’ → industry
Few enterprises have been so costly to our commonwealth, our natural wonders, our health, our shared prospects.
asserted
enterprises → share → commonwealth
Few will leave such a toxic legacy.
asserted
Few → leave → legacy
And for all that, can you think of an enterprise so lightly and scandalously taxed?
asserted
you → think → enterprise
Even beer is taxed harder than dirty old gas.
asserted
beer → tax → gas
Who had the ear of our leaders?
asserted
Who → have → leaders
Big Gas, that’s who.
asserted
that → ’ → ?
Forced to protect whatever can still be saved.
asserted
whatever → force → ?
That’s why everyone’s talking about Scott Reef right now.
asserted
everyone → ’ → Reef
It’s much more than a mountaintop experience for those fortunate enough to reach it.
asserted
It → ’ → it
It’s a sentinel for the future of all corals.
asserted
It → ’ → corals
…and 49 more, not listed.
The Aporia
