'Return every single dollar': Labor vows to claw back Great Barrier Reef grant

Opposition environment spokesman Tony Burke says a federal Labor government would claw back a $444 million grant from the Great Barrier Reef Authority.

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten during a trip to the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 Source: AAP

Federal Labor has written to the Great Barrier Reef Authority warning it will claw back a controversial $444 million grant if it wins government.

The coalition government has come under fire for granting the money to the small organisation without a competitive tender process, and now the opposition is calling on the foundation not to spend too much of the money.

 

Shadow environment spokesman Tony Burke says a Labor government would demand any remaining funds be returned to the government.

"We can't fix what's happened right now, but if Labor wins the election there'll be an immediate policy change and the obligation will be for the foundation, the money that hasn't been spent, they have to return every single dollar," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

"To be spending anything more than a proportionate amount when you consider the money was meant to last six years would be outrageous."

The ALP is united in considering East Jerusalem an "occupied territory", says Tony Burke. (AAP)

Mr Burke said the funds would instead be spent on programs to reduce farm run-off, and go to research bodies such as the CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

"A significant amount of it, you'd have to imagine, would go to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority itself," he said.