Those politicians though…
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No environment officials at Turnbull meeting about $443m reef grant to tiny charity
Revealed: Great Barrier Reef Foundation founders had links to resources industry
No environment department officials were present at a meeting in which the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, discussed a plan that led to a $443.8m grant to a small Great Barrier Reef charity.
The charity, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, has also confirmed that its founders were wealthy businessmen and philanthropists with links to the resources industry, and one was a senior public servant in the Bjelke-Petersen government.
In hearings this week for a Senate inquiry examining how the foundation came to be awarded the funds, its managing director, Anna Marsden, said the foundation’s chairman, John Schubert, was informed there would be a budget allocation at a 9 April meeting with Turnbull, Frydenberg and the secretary of the Environment and Energy Department, Finn Pratt.
PM personally approved $443m fund for tiny Barrier Reef foundation
But in a letter to the inquiry’s committee, Marsden has corrected her statement to say Pratt was not present.
“In the hearing I stated that the secretary of the Department of Environment and Energy, Mr Finn Pratt, attended the meeting with our chair on 9 April 2018. This is incorrect, Mr Pratt was not present in this meeting,” the letter states.
Marsden told the hearing the foundation “did not suggest or make any application for this funding” and was first informed of the plan at the 9 April meeting.
Guardian Australia can also reveal the idea for the foundation was conceived by Sir Sydney Schubert, a Queensland public servant who served as coordinator general under the Bjelke-Petersen Queensland government and was a founding director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and a chancellor of Bond University. He died in 2015.
A spokesperson for the foundation said: “It is our understanding that Sir Sydney Schubert’s idea for forming the foundation was to create a charity to bring science and business together with a common purpose of protecting the Great Barrier Reef.”
The foundation, which has previously not disclosed who established the charity, confirmed the remaining three founders were its current chairman, John Schubert, John Boyd Reid, who was a chairman of his family’s business James Hardie, and Sir Ian McFarlane, a businessman who sought to develop shale oil projects in Queensland.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission records for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation show it was registered as a company in 1999. Its first four directors were Sir Sydney Schubert, McFarlane, Reid and David Windsor, who was an executive director of the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators.
“At the Senate inquiry on 30 July, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation was asked about the origin of the foundation. The managing director agreed to make further inquiries,” the foundation spokesperson said.
“Further to these inquiries, it is our understanding that in 1999: an initial meeting to discuss the formation of a charity to assist the Reef was held; those who attended that meeting included Sir Sydney Schubert (a founding director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority), Sir Ian McFarlane, Mr John B Reid AO and Dr John Schubert AO.”
The spokesperson added that in 1998 “the first severe mass coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef occurred”.
She said Sir Sydney Schubert resigned in 2001 and the other three founding directors resigned in 2004. John Schubert became the foundation’s chairman in 2004.
Guardian Australia put questions to the prime minister’s office.
The prime minister’s office passed the queries on to Frydenberg’s office, which responded that it was not unusual for ministers to meet stakeholders without departmental officials present.
A statement released on behalf of Frydenberg said the government was committed to building the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef “recognising not only its environmental characteristics but also the 64,000 jobs it supports”.
“Our record-breaking $500m investment in the Great Barrier Reef is a new investment, building on and directly supporting the intensive work already underway through the $2bn Reef 2050 Plan,” he said.
“To help protect the reef and drive further philanthropic and corporate support, the Coalition government has made available $444m in this year’s budget for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to spend over six years.”
Frydenberg said the foundation would work closely with the Department of Environment and Energy, the Queensland government and expert institutions such as GBRMPA and the Australian Institute of Marine Science to deliver projects.
“The partnership with the foundation has been established through a grant agreement and the foundation will be required to report to the Department of the Environment and Energy on grant activities,” he said.
“The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is a highly respected philanthropic organisation with a strong fundraising track record and history of successful partnerships with a range of sectors and has strong governance and accountability mechanisms.”
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That is a bizarre story and thing to happen, … and if it was under a Labor Govt, … someone would have been forced to resign by now.
By the sounds of it on 7.30 last night, it’s the sort of thing that could/should bring a Govt down, … but the Murfuch press is strangely quiet on the issue.
Getting so fkn angry … 
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The “foundation” employs 6 people and has a board of 55 members. Execs from Peabody Energy, BHP, Rio Tinto, Shell, Alinta, Commonwealth Bank.
It’s a shell set up for miners, energy and banks. That’s why Malc threw half a billion at them with no tender, no application. Also explains why news corpse isn’t touching it.
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Athlets should opt out of My Health . In a case involving a cyclist,ASADA got access to doctor and prescription records through its information sharing arrangements with other agencies.
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This is how you do it.
The state Government is boosting funding and support services for African young people and their families through the Centre for Multicultural Youth who are already doing amazing work through out Victoria.
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If Dutton cared about crime prevention he would not have stopped welfare access for some refugee visa categories. He transferred the burden to local Councils and community groups. And now the Commonwealth Government is gunning for charities which express opinions on social justice issues.
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I had the same wok issues, I ended up buying an electric one works alright. My dad uses a gas paella hob for his wok, when he doesn’t want to go to the bother of lighting a fire. As for the charring of capsicum I find a blow torch works a treat.
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And if the Libs win the state election, it’ll be the first thing cut
Corruption pure and simple, at the highest level.
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Just some politicians setting up their post Canberra careers/retirement funds
This is the sort of thing that should bring a Government down. I ■■■■■■■ hate our media.
They could keep it running with all the royalties from coal seam gas mining. If they bother collecting any. Which they won’t.
E Husar now being accused of sexual harassment of staff. Allegedly exposed herself to a colleague.
Edit. Exposed herself to Jason Clare. Clare has denied involuntarily seeing E Husar without clothing.
So he saw it voluntarily?
I do not know the circumstances of how J Clare is alleged to have seen E Husar nude.
Farmers know the climate is changing
Kaye Lee
The consistent refrain coming through from many of our farmers is the climate is changing, they don’t know or care what is causing it, but they are in trouble right now and need help.
I certainly agree with helping them now in whatever way we can. Immediately, they need financial relief, feed for their animals, and, if possible, free labour to help with the feeding even if just to give them a few days respite. They may need bulk water deliveries for home at least.
Most of all they need rain but the long term forecast isn’t looking good.
The August to October outlook, issued 26 July 2018, shows most of mainland Australia is likely to be drier than average.
Days and nights are likely to be warmer than average during August to October for most of Australia, with August days very likely to be warmer than average.
These forecast warmer and drier conditions suggest that much of eastern and southern mainland Australia are less likely to see widespread respite in the coming season from current dry conditions.
While we help them through this time of crisis, they also need to start opening their ears and taking a more long-term interest in what causes climate change.
Adaptation must be part of the approach. Much work is being done on drought-resistant crops. More work needs to be done on water management.
But most of all, they have to accept that greenhouse gas emissions are making things worse and that we must, as a matter of urgency, cut them as far as we possibly can. We cannot eliminate them but we have to get back on a trajectory below the tipping point to catastrophe.
That means putting pressure on politicians because they are the only thing standing in our way.
Most farmers vote Nationals. They need to make their voices heard and drag the party into the 21st century or consign them to oblivion.
Barnaby lied to you. Matt Canavan is purely out to further his own ambition and is also lying to you. George Christensen is just wrong, about soooo many things.
It is time farmers understood the role they have played in thwarting our attempts to take action on climate change and took some responsibility for righting that wrong. This is not, as they so often put it, some inner-city greenie thing. It is their livelihood at stake.
If Nationals MPs want coal then they no longer represent farmers’ best interests.
Vote them out.
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Seems to be some dirty NSW Labor politics at the bottom of this. The father of Anderson - who appears to be leaking information to Alice Workman of Buzzfeed- is the son of a former NSW Labor Minister who came in for some scathing NSW ICAC criticism for some comparable behaviour. That put paid to his aspirations to take over the NSW leadership.
They could, assuming they wanted Sudanese kids to actually assimilate, I think they are quite content with the current state of things. Their solution will likely involve more private prisons.