Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

It's an inconvenient truth for the Leader of the Opposition that the coalition government is saving the reef when Labor abandoned it. That's the inconvenient truth for the Labor Party. That's because we've heard from the Prime Minister that, when the Labor Party was last in office, they put the Great Barrier Reef on a fast track to the endangered list. They failed to put in place a long-term plan to secure jobs in the member for Capricornia's seat, in the member for Dawson's seat, in the member for Herbert's seat and in the member for Leichhardt's seat. They failed to put in place a long-term plan.

They had five capital dredge disposal projects planned for the marine park. That's what they had. They failed to allocate funding. In fact, funding was about half of what it is under the Turnbull government today. We have put in place the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan in partnership with the Queensland government—that's $2 billion. We've committed this $500 million. Do you know who is on the board of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation? The chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

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