Thread by @KKeneally

The Turnbull government gave $444m in this financial year to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation - “The biggest single grant to the Reef in Australian history” an official said at #estimates
There was no grant application, no tender, no transparent process to allocate this money.

Minister Birmingham can’t - or wont’ - tell #estimates how the government came to decide to give nearly half a billion dollars of taxpayer funding to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has a Chairman’s Panel that includes BHP, Orica, Rio Tinto, AGL, as well as NAB, ANZ, and Commonwealth Bank. Also, Grant King from the BCA. #Estimates barrierreef.org/our-partners/c…

The Chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation is Dr John Schubert, the former Managing Director of Esso barrierreef.org/the-foundation…

Minister Birmingham and the Environment Department acknowledge that the $444m grant agreement with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation has not yet been finalised in terms of governance or KPIs or even full due diligence. #estimates

Also on the Board of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (a non-government agency) is Dr Russell Reichelt, the CEO of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (a government agency).

That agency (GBRMPA) will be up shortly in #estimates

Perhaps Dr Reichelt or someone at GBRMPA knows how the Turnbull government decided to give $444m this year to a non-government organisation without an open tender, or any transparent or competitive process.

barrierreef.org/the-foundation…