Foundation board members and government officials will also give evidence into the awarding of the grant

The chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and two more board members have agreed to appear at a Senate inquiry examining a $443.8m government grant to the not-for-profit.

John Schubert, who attended a meeting with the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, on 9 April that led to the awarding of the grant, will appear before the Senate committee for questioning at a second hearing on 18 September.

Stephen Fitzgerald, a former chairman of Goldman Sachs, and Grant King, president of the Business Council of Australia, have also agreed to give evidence.

“The committee is also seeking the attendance of another member of the board and agreed to consider summoning this member of the board if necessary,” committee chair Peter Whish-Wilson said on Wednesday.

CSIRO unaware of $444m reef grant before announcement Read more

In talks on Wednesday, the committee resolved to submit questions to both Turnbull and Frydenberg on conversations that took place between their offices or the foundation in the lead up to the awarding of the funding.

“Can the committee please be provided with a copy of any correspondence (including emails and letters) exchanged since 1 January 2018 relating to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (the foundation) and or the partnership between the prime minister or his office and:

a. the Minister for the Environment and Energy or his office; and/or

b. the foundation or its directors or officers?” a letter to the prime minister states.

They have also sought any written advice or submissions provided by the department or ministerial advisers before the 9 April meeting, as well as information on how many formal or informal meetings Turnbull or Frydenberg have had with directors or officers of the foundation since January 1 this year.

It comes after days of pressure on the government to explain the process behind the awarding of the controversial grant.

Frydenberg has said there was “extensive due diligence” and told the parliament this week this was done in two stages.

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However the foundation’s managing director Anna Marsden said no one at the foundation was contacted before the 9 April meeting as part of any due diligence process for the grant.

The foundation has also said that information it submitted to the department of environment and energy on its organisation and structure in March was done as part of a request for funding for a separate project worth $14m over 10 years to protect critical habitat on five Great Barrier Reef islands.

The committee resolved on Wednesday to hold two more public hearings, the first on 18 September with Schubert and fellow board members and another on 21 September with officials from the environment and energy department, the department of finance, treasury, the department of industry, innovation and science and the CSIRO.

The committee also said it will “hold a public hearing at a time and place to be determined to which members of the Chairman’s Panel of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation will be requested to attend”.