The opposition climate change spokesperson, Greg Hunt, is also asking the government to answer these questions, which were first posed by AAP journalist Ilya Gridneff. Here’s a follow up article by Gridneff:

Govt urged to front up on climate funds
11:33 AEST Tue Jul 7 2009
By Ilya Gridneff

The Australian government must say whether millions of taxpayer dollars given for climate change initiatives overseas are actually saving trees, opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt says.

Mr Hunt said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong needed to explain the success of programs such as the $3 million Papua New Guinea Australia Forest Carbon Partnership, signed more than a year ago.

Australia also pledged $200 million to the region under the International Forest Carbon Initiative (IFCI).

The Rudd government refused to answer a series of questions from AAP about how exactly the money has been spent.

In recent months, a number of inconsistencies between Australian government expenditure on climate change and related outcomes in PNG have been exposed.

“The government needs to provide answers as to whether Australian tax dollars and, just as importantly, global rainforest protection dollars, are reaching their stated objectives,” Mr Hunt told AAP.

“We are not opposed to PNG, we are opposed to wasting money.”

Mr Hunt said Australia’s IFCI, of which Indonesia and PNG are beneficiaries, was inherited from the previous John Howard government when current federal opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull was environment minister.

Mr Hunt called on the government to audit every overseas climate change dollar or admit it is wasted on administration, siphoned off improperly or merely empty rhetoric.

Senator Wong did not answer questions about the millions Australia spends on foreign climate change initiatives.

She did not comment on the effectiveness of these bilateral agreements, considering a raft of anomalies with PNG’s Office of Climate Change (OCC) and the suspension of its director Dr Theo Yasause.

PNG is investigating Dr Yasause who denies wrongdoing after a list of leaked documents showed he signed on carbon deals to companies while no policy or legislation existed.

On Friday, AAP reported PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare’s nephew had been accused of pressuring East Sepik landowners in their home province to sign up for carbon deals.

Last month, AAP reported conmen travelling near Popondetta, in Oro province on the northwest coast, had sold 500 villagers fake carbon trading deals by promising big returns from “sky money”.

Australia’s Macquarie Bank earlier this year pulled out of PNG saying it was too difficult to guarantee their customers the integrity of carbon projects.

An AusAID spokesperson said a three-month “corporate planning adviser” providing “technical advice on financial and accounting systems, IT and communications and HR processes” would soon be placed in PNG’s OCC.

AusAID would not reveal the adviser’s salary but said so far, under the Carbon Partnership, $300,000 had been spent on education workshops held across PNG in May this year.

Is Carbon Conservation one of them?

Does the government owe the public more information on this as a matter of law? Pretty disgraceful response!