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Coral cover has bounced back across two thirds of the Great Barrier Reef but scientists say its long-term health remains at risk from climate change.

The northern and central sections of the reef have the highest levels of coral cover recorded in 36 years of monitoring by the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

However coral cover has declined in the southern section, mainly due to ongoing outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish.

Dr Mike Emslie leads the agency's long-term monitoring program and says the reef has shown it can still recover if given the chance.

He says the increased coral cover from Cape York south to Proserpine is the result of a few years of relative calm.

While the reef has suffered negative effects from mass coral bleaching events in 2020 and again this summer, they weren't anywhere near as deadly for coral as the ones in 2016 and 2017.

The reef has also benefited from a few years without being battered by cyclones.

"Our latest surveys show the Great Barrier Reef is still an amazing place, it's still vibrant, it can still recover if given the chance," Dr Emslie says.

"But the impacts of climate change are going to progress as we move forward. Is it always going to remain that way is the million dollar question."

Dr Emslie warns the resurgence could be short lived with the increase driven by fast-growing Acropora corals that are highly susceptible to bleaching, wave damage associated with cyclones and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish.

"This isn't the first time the Great Barrier Reef has recovered. It's been seen before. The rate of increase has been seen before. But all it takes is another summer of bad bleaching or a cyclone, which we haven't had for a while, and things can change."

The latest monitoring report is based on surveys at 87 reefs between August last year and May this year. About half of that work was done before this year's bleaching event.

Scientists don't expect widespread coral mortality but also say the full picture won't be known until this time next year, after the next round of surveys.

Even if widespread coral deaths don't eventuate the reef will still suffer because heat stress hurts coral growth and reproduction and increases susceptibility to disease.

"The fact that we've had four bleaching events in seven years ... we're kind of in uncharted waters now. We've never had this frequency of bleaching."

The survey report estimates hard coral cover in the northern section of the reef, from Cape York to Cooktown, is sitting at 36 per cent.

That's the highest level recorded in the monitoring program's 36-year history and a major turnaround from the most recent low of 13 per cent in 2017.

In the central section of the reef from Cooktown to Proserpine hard coral cover is estimated at 33 per cent, also the highest on record and up from 14 per cent in 2019.

But the situation is different in the southern section of the reef from Proserpine to Gladstone, where estimated coral cover is at 34 per cent, down four per cent on last year due to outbreaks of the coral-munching crown-of-thorns starfish.

© AAP 2022

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The Albanese government has agreed to a number of changes to its climate laws, securing Greens support to get them through parliament.

It will also have the support of Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer, despite her party affirming its opposition to the bill earlier this week.

"It's important to me that when I'm back in my own community, I'm able to sincerely say that I used the opportunity afforded to me with the power of my vote to stand up for what they want and need," she told parliament on Wednesday.

Ms Archer discussed her position with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and said she would support his plans to update the coalition's emissions targets.

"While that happens, it is important that we do move forward and we act now and not delay until the eve of the next election," she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared the laws an opportunity to end the climate wars and urged the coalition to reconsider their stance.

"This is an opportunity for the whole of the parliament to be on the right side of history," he told reporters in Canberra.

(The coalition is) stuck in the past, they're frozen in time while the world warms around them."

The changes, outlined by Greens leader Adam Bandt on Wednesday, include the government ensuring the emissions target can be raised over time and cannot go backwards.

There will also be greater transparency and strengthened requirements on the Climate Change Authority.

Government agencies, such as Export Finance Australia, that have funded coal and gas projects will for the first time be forced to take climate targets into account.

They join a range of other agencies with new limits, including Infrastructure Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund.

A redesigned "safeguard mechanism" - which requires Australia's largest greenhouse gas emitters to keep their net emissions below a limit or baseline - will have input from the Greens.

The design proposal will be released for public input by the end of August, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said.

Labor has also agreed to consider Greens proposals to support coal and gas workers and communities, including the establishment of a transition authority.

The Greens will seek to amend the budget to be handed down in October for any subsidies to fossil fuel companies.

Mr Bandt set out the conditions in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

He said the Greens will also fight for a climate trigger in environmental protection legislation, which is separate to the climate laws.

"We are bitterly disappointed that Labor wants to open new coal and gas projects, unwilling to adopt science based targets," he said.

"You can only end the climate wars by keeping coal and gas in the ground."

It comes as MPs debate the legislation in the lower house.

A meeting of Liberal and Nationals MPs and senators on Tuesday affirmed the coalition's opposition to the bill.

The coalition plans to update its emissions targets beyond its existing commitment to a 26-28 per cent reduction, and is weighing up a policy to back nuclear power.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Andrew McKellar said the Greens decision was in the national interest and would provide certainty for business.

"The government's emissions reduction plan offers a pathway to achieve the economic and technological transition towards a more sustainable future," he said in a statement.

"This is a missed opportunity for the opposition. The announcement demonstrates that the climate wars are over. This must act as a moment for unity of purpose."

© AAP 2022

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The NRL will decide whether to move the grand final to Brisbane by the end of the week after Peter V'landys accused the NSW Government of reneging on a handshake deal over stadium upgrades.

League officials and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet remained at odds on Wednesday, as the NRL threatened to take the high-stakes stadia stoush to the court room.

The crux of the issue remains funding that was initially set aside in 2018 for the rebuild of Accor Stadium, which helped secure an agreement to keep the grand final in Sydney until 2042.

That rebuild was put off during COVID, with the government then agreeing to spend some of that money on new stadiums and suburban ground upgrades.

As recently as April both V'landys and Perrottet had met over the matter, with the $300 million Penrith Stadium locked in and the NRL expecting several suburban grounds to receive a combined $250 million in renovations.

But Perrottet told V'landys this week that would no longer be a priority, with money directed to the rebuilding effort after the state's floods.

Perrottet also made clear in a press conference on Wednesday he was willing to make the unpopular decision, as he was accountable to the people of NSW and not V'landys.

"I never asked him to be answerable to me," V'landys told AAP afterwards.

"I have asked him to honour an agreement.

"You can't cherrypick which ones you offer and which ones you don't.

"If someone had a contract to buy your house, you would expect them to go through with the sale."

The ARL Commission chairman also pointed to the fact he was seeking $550 million in works across suburban grounds, as opposed to the $800 million that was to be spent on Accor.

"We're technically asking for less money," V'landys said.

"He (Perrottet) is using a human tragedy with the floods to spin it.

"This is about the fifth excuse. And that's why to me it's not credible.

"When you consider the amount of the overall budget, it is minuscule spend."

V'landys said the commission would meet over the venue for the October 2 grand final this week as he sought legal advice on whether it could exit Sydney.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reaffirmed on Wednesday that her state's door was open to host the grand final again, after Brisbane's historic decider last year during Sydney's lockdown.

"I'm setting a timeline to make a decision by the end of this week," V'landys said.

Perrottet said it would be "very disappointing" if Sydney was to lose the grand final.

But he was steadfast in his position over where budget money needed to be directed, and pointed to $1.8 billion spent on stadiums and centres of excellence in recent years.

"There is no other state that has put as much investment in sporting infrastructure as the NSW Government," Perrottet said.

"But when circumstances change, priorities change too. Ultimately, I am not accountable to Peter V'landys. I am accountable to the people of NSW.

"I have over 1000 people without a home, based on the flooding that we have seen across New South Wales."

Perrottet's position has been backed by the opposition, however Labor have raised concerns over the Penrith stadium rebuild in newly-resigned sports minister Stuart Ayres' seat ahead of other venues.

V'landys said he would not request that the money currently dedicated to Penrith's stadium be split across other clubs, happy for it to go ahead.

© AAP 2022

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Artist Jeremy Eden has won the Archibald Prize People's Choice Award with a portrait of actor Samuel Johnson.

A record 35,268 gallery-goers voted in the 2022 award, the most since the prize was first offered in 1988.

After receiving the award at the Art Gallery of NSW, Eden said he was ecstatic to win the popular vote in his second consecutive year as an Archibald finalist.

"It's been life-changing ... I just hope I can grow with it and be one of those people that's here every year," he told AAP.

Being a finalist has alone meant more commissions, and he hopes Wednesday's win will lead to gallery representation.

"I went from being an emerging artist with nothing to back me up, to people somewhat knowing who I am, which is lovely."

The Sydney-based artist first met Johnson in 2021 while the actor was recovering from a near-fatal car accident.

He was in a neck brace when they first spoke on a video call, and the pair bonded over their shared experience of losing close family members to cancer.

Eden's mother died from the illness in 2008, while Johnson founded the cancer charity Love Your Sister with his sibling Connie before she died in 2017.

The winning portrait depicts Johnson holding a photo of Eden's mother Annette, after the actor encouraged Eden to include his personal story in the portrait too.

The painter flew to Melbourne for a live sitting with Johnson, then worked six hours a day for 10 weeks to finish the portrait.

"The people have spoken and they loved Jeremy the most," Johnson said in a statement.

"He is an extraordinary storyteller, has a huge heart and he deserves this acknowledgement so fully."

Love your Sister has a substantial public following and has raised more than $15 million for cancer research.

The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes are on show at the gallery until August 28, and the Archibald finalists will tour regional Victoria and NSW until July 2023.

© AAP 2022