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The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has revealed its new chairman as Dr Ian Poiner — who has until now led a different organisation, which has been at the centre of a governance crisis engulfing the authority.
Key points:
- Dr Ian Poiner is currently chairman of Reef and Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC)
- Questions raised about decision to appoint him given issues around RRRC and Marine Park Authority
- Dr Poiner is a former CEO of Australian Institute of Marine Science and has conducted scientific research on a number of relevant topics
The authority recently lost a board member after the ABC revealed she had a number of potential conflicts of interest, including with the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC).
Dr Poiner comes directly from his position as chair of the board of the RRRC.
The RRRC is a company that administers funds for environmental research and protection, with a lot of that money coming via the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Dr Poiner has had a distinguished career, previously chairing the Integrated Marine Observing System, and he was the CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
He has also conducted scientific research on a number of relevant topics, including tropical marine ecology.
In a statement, federal Environment Minister Melissa Price welcomed Dr Poiner, saying he would "make a significant contribution to the continued health and resilience of the reef".
But questions have been raised about the Government's decision to appoint him, given the issues around the RRRC and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA).
The appointment was first announced in a press release by the RRRC on Sunday afternoon, before a planned ministerial announcement had been made.
Within hours the release was "officially rescinded until further notice".
Issues around RRRC and Marine Park Authority
The news comes just weeks after the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority lost one of its board members, Margie McKenzie, following the ABC revealing she had serious potential conflicts of interest that were not properly declared.
Among that list of potential conflicts of interest was her husband, Col McKenzie's, position on the board of the RRRC, which receives millions of dollars in funding from the authority for culling the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish.
Both Col and Margie McKenzie personally profited from that funding, through their ownership of a company that was subcontracted to do the actual culling.
The ABC also revealed the RRRC altered a scientific assessment of its starfish-killing program against the direct demands of the report's author, before passing it on to the Government.
There is no suggestion that Dr Poiner had any knowledge of the alteration of the report.
The Marine Park Authority made clear the appointment of the new chair was part of a program of strengthening the governance of the organisation, in the information it published when advertising for the position.
"The new governance model requires the development of a comprehensive Board charter covering matters such as board values, operating protocols, management of conflicts of interest and a new process for monitoring performance," it said.
Ariane Wilkinson, a lawyer from Environmental Justice Australia, said the appointment raised some questions and called for an inquiry into the RRRC's performance.
"There are serious questions that need to be answered about the management of the crown-of-thorns starfish program by RRRC, including questions about the appropriate use of millions of taxpayer dollars and transparency with GBRMPA about the RRRC program's impact," she said.
"The authority's statutory function is to carry out and oversee research and investigations into Great Barrier Reef Marine Park issues.
"To properly carry out its role, GBRMPA should demand an independent review into RRRC's performance.
"In order to avoid any real or perceived conflicts of interest, Dr Poiner, the new chair of the authority, must disqualify himself from participating in all deliberations about RRRC."
'Great challenges facing Great Barrier Reef'
In its initial press release, the RRRC described Dr Poiner's new role as "challenging".
A quote attributed to RRRC executive director Sheriden Morris said: "There are great challenges facing the Great Barrier Reef, like climate change, poor water quality and other human-induced impacts.
"Ian will bring his deep understanding of the Reef and of the communities that rely on it to these challenges [sic]."
Dr Poiner did not respond to questions about the appointment before publication.
But in response to earlier questions, Dr Poiner told the ABC he believed he had fully discharged his duties as chair of the RRRC board, and that all potential conflicts of interests (COI) had been managed in line with the organisation's policy.
"RRRC adheres to its COI policy and procedures," he said. "Once the financial interest has been declared the RRRC COI policy and procedures are applied."
Topics: great-barrier-reef, oceans-and-reefs, environment, federal-government, government-and-politics, cairns-4870, qld, townsville-4810, australia