Prime Minister Scott Morrison has talked up the coalition's environmental credentials as he faced anti-coal mine protesters in Melbourne.
Mr Morrison announced $203 million to protect waterways and threatened species, but Australian Conservation Foundation campaigners found him before his media event on Friday.
Wearing "Stop Adani" shirts and carrying signs, the paid protesters followed Mr Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg around Yarra Bend Park.
The prime minister's media advisers and security officers shielded him from the protesters, a day after they shielded him from about-to-be-axed Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan in Tasmania.
"There's lots of strong views about the environment in our community today and we respect those views, but what matters is the quality of the environment you live in, and doing the practical things that are necessary," Mr Morrison told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
The new funding includes a $100 million Australian Recycling Investment Fund through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
The fund will support manufacturing of lower-emission and energy-efficient recycled content products, such as recycled content plastics, paper and pulp.
Another $20 million will go towards accelerating work on new industry-led recycling schemes, including for batteries, electrical products, photovoltaic systems and plastic oil containers.
A further $10 million will go to establishing feral predator-free zones to create safe havens for threatened native species.
Mr Morrison and Ms Whelan shared an awkward walk through a Tasmanian agricultural festival on Thursday, with his advisers shielding her from the media and also keeping her away from the prime minister.
She was dumped as a candidate on Friday morning after more inflammatory posts about Muslims came to light, but vowed to contest Lyons as an independent.
When asked if he had been lied to the prime minister responded: "Yes."
