Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I reject the premise of that question outright. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has a track record of raising millions of dollars. Senator Keneally wants to come in here and say, 'Was it $60 million? Was it $80 million? Was it $90 million?' I'm sure that's $60 million, $80 million or $90 million more than Senator Keneally has ever raised for the Great Barrier Reef—or any other charity, probably. It's more than Senator Ketter would have ever raised. The Labor Party are just engaged in trying to smear this organisation for cheap, base political purposes, rather than recognising that this is a genuine record investment into the Great Barrier Reef and that this complements years of work by the coalition government, championed by the likes of Senator Macdonald. We have made sure that we've continued to support the reef and deal with the real issues facing it in terms of reef quality, crown-of thorns starfish and the like. This investment will continue that good work for years to come.