Shadow environment minister Tony Burke has called on the federal government to reneg on a $443 million funding grant given to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation amid questions over how exactly the organisation was given the money in the first place.
Last week it was revealed that the prime minister offered the Great Barrier Reef Foundation – a not-for-profit organisation with six staff that has ties to mining companies and other corporations, the $443 million grant for environmental projects associated with the reef in a single meeting with environment minister Josh Frydenberg, and foundation chair John Schubert.
There was no tender process, and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation had not asked for the funding, but the department has said that the proper grant process was followed after the meeting was held.
When prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was questioned about the funding on ABC's 7.30 program on Monday night, he claimed the grant went through the cabinet process, including through the expenditure review committee before the budget.
Turnbull said that the money was given to the organisation because it is an "outstanding reef charity" and pointed to funding given to the organisation under Labor of slightly over $12 million over four years in the 2013-2014 budget, just prior to the 2013 election.
Burke said in a statement that the prime minister could not point to any policy of probity behind the decision to give the foundation such a large amount of money.
"Responsibility for this cash splash lies squarely with the prime minister and it has been a careless use of taxpayer’s money," he said. "There are massive holes in the contract and secrecy provisions that are in perpetuity. We will never know how some of it is spent."
Frydenberg has previously defended the decision, stating that the foundation has been able to leverage its corporate connections to raise $90 million of funding since 2000, but a Labor analysis of that funding found that it is closer to $25 million once government grants and fees for being on the chairman's panel were deducted.
The @GBRFoundation says it’s raised $90m since it began in 2000. Labor analysed every year of its annual reports since 2000 and could only find $65m in revenue. #reefgate Thread 👇
That means the @GBRFoundation appears to have raised about $25m in 18 years from additional private sector donations. That’s a lot less “leveraging” than the $80m @JoshFrydenberg claimed.