Great Barrier Reef: former board member describes $444m grant as 'unthinkable'

Michael Myer says size of grant ‘unheard of’ as Josh Frydenberg refuses to say where idea originated

The environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, would not say whose idea it was to award a $444m government grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, on the same day a former member of the foundation’s board described the allocation as “unthinkable”.

Michael Myer, of the Myer family, was a member of the reef foundation’s board from 2001 to 2004 until he became concerned at what he called the growing “corporatist” direction of the organisation.

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