UNESCO not misled on reef health: Hunt

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt insists UNESCO hasn't been misled about the quality of water running onto the Great Barrier Reef.

A scathing new report by Queensland's auditor-general says data suggesting an improvement in water quality is unreliable and comes weeks after UNESCO's draft ruling to leave the reef off its "in-danger" list.

Questions have been raised about the timing of the report, but Mr Hunt says he first saw it on Wednesday afternoon and suggestions UNESCO had been misled about the reef's water quality were incorrect.