In 2018, the Coalition government gifted $444 million of other people’s money to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. The money was apparently not even asked for by the foundation, but the Decider in Chief, then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his profligate offsider Josh Frydenberg, signed off on ‘… the record funding agreement without an open tender.’ Said Turnbull at the time: ‘So this is a wonderful investment in ensuring that we maintain the health of the Great Barrier Reef.’

The purpose of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, according to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation is to: ‘To find and grow the best solutions to protect the world’s greatest reef.’

Meanwhile, reported this week from the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s Annual Summary Report on Coral Reef Condition: ‘In 2022, the GBR (Great Barrier Reef) continues to recover, registering the highest levels of coral cover yet recorded in the Northern and Central regions over the past 36 years of monitoring.’

To repeat. The highest level of coral cover in 36 years of monitoring across two-thirds of the reef.

This begs the question… For what was $444 million of public money provided by the Coalition government? Either the Great Barrier Reef Foundation was absolutely brilliant at saving the reef or it achieved very little and the reef repaired itself. Was this another Coalition waste of money? Looks like the latter rather than the former.

According to Peter Ridd, someone with some familiarity of the subject: ‘The reef now has twice as much coral as in 2012 when it hit a low point after being smashed by major cyclones.’ Then Ridd added: ‘The truth is we have been scammed for decades, and the perpetrators have been caught out. Once-trusted science institutions have become untrustworthy. It is time they are subjected to serious scrutiny.’

Over 4 years, we have burned through approximately $245 million to achieve … what? Whatever it is, it is difficult to quantify. With this spending you’d think this project was part of the Department of Defence!

The final and most important question to ask then is … can we have the money back?