Great Barrier Reef research grant – given to foundation run by oil and airline execs

Scientists slam secret $443million Great Barrier Reef research grant that was given to foundation run by oil and airline execs

  • A secretive $443m grant funding reef research has been slammed by scientists
  • The unprecedentedly large grant will fund research into the Great Barrier Reef
  • The sum was awarded to a foundation run solely by mining and airline executives
  • And scientists have been critical, saying it will do little to address the reef’s risks

A secretive multi-million dollar grant funding Great Barrier Reef research has been slammed by scientists after it was given to a foundation run by business executives.    

The $443million sum has been lauded as the largest government donation of its kind and has been awarded solely to the aptly named Great Barrier Reef Foundation. 

However, criticism from the Australian Academy of Science has followed the funding’s announcement saying it ‘does little’ to address the reef’s mounting risks. 

A secretive multi-million dollar grant funding Great Barrier Reef research has been slammed by scientists after it was given to a foundation run by business executives

The $443million sum has been lauded as the largest government donation of its kind and has been awarded to the aptly named Great Barrier Reef Foundation but attracted criticism from the Australian Academy of Science

The $443million sum has been lauded as the largest government donation of its kind and has been awarded to the aptly named Great Barrier Reef Foundation but attracted criticism from the Australian Academy of Science

More specifically, it also called out its ‘small-scale restoration projects’ including ‘underwater fans, coral sunscreen and coral gardens’. 

The funding is proposed to be given in one payment, which is the largest donation that any Australian Government has made to a single foundation for environmental projects. 

But the contention extends far beyond the money’s use and into the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s members where oil and airline executives feature heavily.

In addition to being chaired by Dr John Schubert, a former head of Esso Australia, it also features Boeing Australia president Maureen Dougherty and former GE Mining president Steven Sargent.

It total the foundation is said to employ just 14 people.  

The funding is proposed to be given in one payment, which is the largest donation that any Australian Government has made to a single foundation for environmental projects

The funding is proposed to be given in one payment, which is the largest donation that any Australian Government has made to a single foundation for environmental projects

In response, the federal Department of the Environment and Energy will be questioned at a Senate committee hearing in Brisbane on Monday. 

Former GE Mining president Steven Sargent (pictured) sits on the foundation's executive-stacked board

Former GE Mining president Steven Sargent (pictured) sits on the foundation’s executive-stacked board

‘The Academy is also concerned about the redirection of funding from experienced and well-established Commonwealth agencies such as the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), CSIRO, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), in favour of a non-governmental organisation,’ the Australian Academy of Science told the Senate inquiry into the funding deal.

However a Great Barrier Reef Foundation spokeswoman told The Courier Mail that the foundation had a ‘strong track record of delivering high impact private-public partnership projects for the reef’.

She also added it had already raised $90 million for Great Barrier Reef research through private donations over the past 20 years.  

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