Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

In question time today, the Treasurer claimed that on budget night I had welcomed the government offering almost half a billion dollars in taxpayers' money to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and suggested that I'd forgotten welcoming it. That's incorrect. In fact, on the morning of the government's pre-budget announcement, on 29 April 2018, I said:

… any extra help and support for the Great Barrier Reef is something to be welcomed.

In that statement, I welcomed money to help protect the Great Barrier Reef. I did not welcome the fact that almost half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money was offered by the Prime Minister to a small private foundation in a closed-door meeting, with no public servants present, without tender and with no serious due diligence.

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