Built by the federal government in 1987, Reef HQ served as the national reef education centre for decades and welcomed tens of thousands of visitors each year before shutting down in 2021. 

North Queensland leaders say Townsville is losing millions of tourism dollars while the aquarium, billed as the world's largest living coral reef display with more than a hundred corals and a hundred fish species, remains closed to the public. 

"We saw about 110,000 people come to Reef HQ every year and those who are tourists spent $350 a day," Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith said. 

"Everyone who came to Townsville ended up at Reef HQ — it is millions of dollars our economy is missing."

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is unable to say when it will be able to reopen its showcase reef education aquarium.

Change of plans

Reef HQ was closed in 2021 for a two-year $80 million refurbishment including a new facade and roof.

But 18 months later, GBRMPA announced that it would demolish the aquarium tank and rebuild it by 2026.

In mid-2024 the aquarium is yet to be demolished although other buildings flagged for redevelopment in the initial $80 million plan have been torn down.

Sharks, turtles, and tropical reef fish remain on loan to other research aquariums.

A Senate Estimates hearing in May revealed GBRMPA never had funding to demolish and rebuild the aquarium despite its announcement in November 2022.

GBRMPA project manager Ian Walker said the authority decided that it would need more funding in July 2022 when experts identified non-compliance issues and found the aquarium roof was leaking.

"It meant that we needed to modernise the facility," Mr Walker said.

"When you're dealing with a small number of issues you can stay within the refurbishment model, [but] with more issues identified we needed to move to a redevelopment model."

Leaks in many places

Although the Reef Authority said leaks were discovered in mid-2022, "leaks in many places" were reported by GBRMPA to a public works committee in 2020.

GBRMPA then had $26.9 million for infrastructure upgrades and safety works.

At Senate Estimates, GBRMPA CEO Joshua Thomas would not specify how much more money the project would cost to complete.

"That will depend on a series of options we will put forward [and] we are working with government on options for the facility in the future," Mr Thomas said.

Townsville Enterprise said a new state-of-the-art project, proposed to the federal government in a $180 million business case, would unlock millions of dollars in the local economy.

"There will be probably double the number of people going through it — up to 200,000."

$20 million spent

Mr Thomas said, of the $80 million, $20 million had been spent on "making sure the place was safe" and "getting experts on board".

No money has been allocated to the project since the 2021-22 federal budget when $40 million was allocated for capital works matched by $40 million in City Deal money.

The ABC has repeatedly requested to interview the Reef Authority's CEO and project manager as well as Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to whom the authority reports. 

All have declined to speak to the ABC and have not answered detailed questions about the project.

It remains unclear when Reef HQ could reopen as the Reef Authority continues to lobby for more funding.

"It would be difficult to do justice to the aquarium with the funding we have currently," Mr Thomas said at Senate Estimates.

"We are very aware of the community's interest in this project and are being as transparent as we can within government constraints about where the project is up to."