A board director for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has been accused of a potential conflict of interest over public funding directed to companies working on crown-of-thorns starfish culling.
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| Margie McKenzie said she had left the room during any Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority discussions about crown-of-thorns starfish. |
Margie McKenzie sits on the board of the authority and also owns a company called Gempearl with her husband, Col McKenzie.
More than $20m in taxpayer funds was spent by the reef authority on killing crown-of-thorns starfish, which preys on coral.
According to reports by the ABC, the money was directed to two not-for-profit companies that then subcontracted the culling work to Gempearl.
Col McKenzie is also linked to the two companies that subcontracted the work – the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, on which he serves as a board member, and the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, as its executive director and company secretary.
Read the story from The Guardian by Lisa Cox - “Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority board director accused of potential conflict of interest.”
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