The reef is fine but academic freedom remains in peril

The first images I saw of the Great Barrier Reef were in 1980s television news reports warning that the crown-of-thorns starfish was destroying it.

Divers were spearing them in what looked like a futile effort to ward off the coral-eating plague.

I fully expected the reef to be gone before I grew up and had a chance to see it for myself.

For the current generation of Queenslanders, fear of the reef’s demise has defined our attitude to it.

This has only escalated amid the global warming scare.

Remember President Obama lecturing us when he was here for APEC in 2014?

“The incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threatened,” he intoned.

“Worldwide this past summer was the hottest on record.”

I’ll…