Improving water quality is a major strategy for mitigating Climate Change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). While poor water quality poses one of the highest risks to coastal and inshore marine ecosystems that fundamentally support Reef resilience, this link is not clear to many of our stakeholders. Terminology like “the Reef” has encouraged a focus on the offshore platform reef systems and misinterpretation of scientific commentary, obscuring the significance and health of the inshore coral reefs and seagrass meadows reported by the Marine Monitoring Program (MMP), specifically in relation to water quality. This solution-based presentation identifies current challenges for the MMP, barriers to effectual whole-of-system management, and how these may be addressed for more effective, resilience-based decision-making and sustainable outcomes. This includes a collaborative coastal ecosystems management approach, and the integration of relevant scientific interpretation currently missing in reporting and communication processes. Essentially, the re-framing of the GBR water quality story to provide greater clarity for our community about land-based water quality impacts on the health and sustainability of the inshore GBR. Identifying the importance of this inshore region not only for the sustainability of the Reef, but significantly to our community values, way of life and livelihoods.