Chris Smith is not backing down from Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg over his “insane” $444-million Great Barrier Reef Foundation grant.

Chris is demanding answers to the “abnormal government policy”, questioning why the foundation was selected and why there wasn’t a competitive tender process.

In a fiery interview with Ben Fordham, the minister repeatedly dodged the questions.

But in an interview on ABC’s Insiders, Mr Frydenberg said, “it was my submission as the minister”.

“We’re still waiting for an explanation on why it didn’t go to a tender process,” says Chris.

In the same interview, the Environment Minister also said, “there was extensive due diligence that was done”.

But it turns out that might not be the case.

The foundation’s boss Anna Marsden told the ABC this morning no one from government contacted her about the checks.

“BS, you’re lying Josh!” says Chris.

“The managing director said no one, including herself, was phoned by government to talk about due diligence checks.

“No one did anything!

“Government didn’t dig a hole, it dug a canyon here.

“There’s something that stinks about it… or are they all just plain dumb?”

Click PLAY below to hear Chris’ comments in full