Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has had bipartisan support in the past. Mr Burke provided a Commonwealth grant to it in the past, and the Labor Party voted in favour of this particular grant. As the government has said, we want to leverage additional private sector investment. As the Great Barrier Reef Foundation has publicly stated in relation to the chairman's panel, its objective is to bring together leading corporate executives and board members with an interest in the reef. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has 56 members on their chairman's panel from Australia's leading companies, universities and research organisations.

As I say, those opposite don't actually care about the reef at all. We care about the reef, which is why we are making a commitment to it and are trying to attract additional private sector investment. The Labor Party is all about the politics, as always. You vote in favour of it but then you to try to run away from it and somehow hide under the carpet. You can't hide under the carpet—you voted for it; you're on the hook for it.