The Greens want to know why $444 million in taxpayers' money was handed to a small charity without using a competitive tender process.
On Tuesday they will call for an inquiry to look at the Reef 2050 Plan and whether the Great Barrier Reef Foundation can deliver it.
"So many questions remain unanswered into how this small foundation, governed by people from big business and the fossil fuel sector, has been granted hundreds of millions in public funding," Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said.
"And why the government bypassed the specially designed public bodies that are already doing this work."
Senator Whish-Wilson said the government overlooked the Australian Institute of Marine Science, a body set up by former Liberal prime minister John Gorton to study the reef.
It also ignored the Great Barrier Reef Trust, a body set up by the coalition in 2013 to devolve funds to various groups.
"We need a Senate inquiry to get to the bottom of this debacle. Every planning and governance process that has been put in place to get the best benefit from public spending on the reef has been thrown out the window,'" Senator Whish-Wilson said.
A Senate hearing last week was told The Great Barrier Reef Foundation was chosen to get $444 million of taxpayer money to protect the reef without being asked if they wanted it or how they'd spend it.
"You've forked out $450 million to this group that have 10 staff," Labor senator Anthony Chisholm said, demanding accountability from government officials.
Government minister Simon Birmingham backed the allocation in the hearing, saying the foundation had the expertise to handle large sums, but after a record contribution it would be expected there would be some expansion of its resources to do so.
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