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The ANAO yesterday released a damning report into the Liberals’ $444 million Great Barrier Reef Foundation Rort. #ReefGate Thread below -
Recap: In 2018, the GBRF – an organisation with only six full-time staff – was handed $444 million they never asked for, in a backroom deal, without a competitive tender process or proper due diligence.
GBRF Chief Executive Anna Marsden – wife of Liberal Premier @CampbellNewman's former Chief-of-Staff – said it felt “like winning the lotto”, & that the GBRF was seeking advice on how to manage suddenly becoming “the largest environmental NGO in Australia”. https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/like-winning-lotto-reef-foundation-minnow-braces-for-444m-windfall-20180511-p4zeud.html
Labor has always questioned this grant – why didn’t the Govt. give this money to their own marine experts at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority? How would the GBRF use this money, and would they be able to leverage additional cash donations like they claimed?
And so today, the ANAO released a performance report into the grant. What did the ANAO find? How it started:
How it’s going:
The GBRF have managed to raise just $684,100 in cash donations since 2018. That is less than half of one percent of their original promise of $157 million in cash donations.
According to the ANAO, the GBRF have spent – or committed to spend – $154.8 million to date. Labor supports every effort to save the Great Barrier Reef – but the GBRF are failing to deliver on their claims that they could raise significant funds for the Reef.
Dodgy backroom deals? Ignoring Departmental advice? Zero accountability? Jobs for Mates? Almost sounds like something the Prime Minister would be involved in…
Deirde Chambers! @ScottMorrisonMP claimed full responsibility for this rort in '18
“You do it in a way... which doesn't impair the budget over the longer term. So if you ask me, it seemed to me like pretty good common sense in how you manage the finances…" https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-says-surprise-444-million-reef-grant-was-a-bid-to-balance-the-books-20181001-p5074a.html
“You do it in a way... which doesn't impair the budget over the longer term. So if you ask me, it seemed to me like pretty good common sense in how you manage the finances…" https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-says-surprise-444-million-reef-grant-was-a-bid-to-balance-the-books-20181001-p5074a.html
@AlboMP cut through the spin straight away – “manage the finances” is the PM’s way of saying “cooking the books”. This was nothing more than a stunt from @ScottMorrisonMP to fiddle with the Budget and fabricate his now infamous “Back in Black” surplus.
In short – @ScottMorrisonMP gave half-a-billion dollars to his mates at the GBRF. He treats taxpayer money like it is Liberal Party money. He’s not on the side of the Reef, and he’s not on your side.
