Novelty cheque presented to Yankalilla Bowling Club by Liberal candidate Georgina Downer prompts audit

A novelty cheque presented to Yankalilla Bowling Club by Liberal candidate for Mayo, Georgina Downer, has prompted an audit of the way funding is awarded.

• Georgina Downer’s novelty cheque is ‘misleading’: Rebekha Sharkie

A cheque presented to Yankalilla Bowling Club by the Liberal candidate for Mayo, Georgina Downer, will be investigated.

Commonwealth Auditor-General Grant Hehir will probe whether the $127,373 grant for infrastructure upgrades “was informed by an appropriate assessment process and sound advice”. Last month, Ms Downer dismissed allegations that the large novelty cheque with her face on it was misleading.

Georgina Downer with the novelty cheque at the Yankalilla Bowling club. Picture: Georgina Downer — Liberal for Mayo/Facebook

At the time, Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus requested an investigation into the conduct of the Liberal Party, including Ms Downer and relevant ministers.

His concerns were that Ms Downer, as only a candidate, had been notified of the grant before sitting MP Rebekha Sharkie and that the exercise was misleading because it gave the impression it was funded by Ms Downer.

Ms Downer did not comment when contacted by The Advertiser on Thursday night.

However, she did point out federal Labor MP for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas had used a novelty cheque with his face on it to present a $10,000 community grant for a girls football academy last month.

At the @adelaide_fc women’s curtain raiser to present the community Grant of $10,000 towards the establishment of the Aboriginal & Torres straight Islander girls football academy where I also had the pleasure of tossing the coin at #unleyoval #womensfootball #adelaide #community pic.twitter.com/lSFJECmnZB

— Steve Georganas (@stevegeorganas) March 10, 2019

Mr Georganas said on Thursday night, as the elected member for Hindmarsh, he was asked by the Government to “promote” the grant for the Adelaide Crows’ indigenous women’s academy, which is from his electorate.

In a letter from Commissioner Hehir to Mr Dreyfus, published online late yesterday, the Auditor-General said the grants program that funded the Yankalilla project needed to be investigated.

Mr Hehir said because the Community Sport Infrastructure Program was not subject to Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines — unlike most merits-based grants programs his office has examined — funding from it was worth investigating.

The investigation will also examine whether the program was well designed, applications were soundly assessed and whether funding decisions were informed by clear advice consistent with program guidelines.

Mr Dreyfus said he welcomed the investigation.

“Ms Downer’s actions made a joke of a taxpayer-funded program and show how desperate the Liberal Party are,” he said.

“Many other Liberal candidates have done similar acts across Australia, and I would urge the Auditor to also look into these cases.”

The Advertiser last month revealed a number of state Labor MPs and candidates who had used novelty cheques, including Jayne Stinson and John Rau.

Late on Thursday night, federal Sport Minister Senator Bridget McKenzie said:

“We appreciate the Auditor General’s role in ensuring that taxpayer’s funds are used in a responsible manner.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus.

Federal Sport Minister Senator Bridget McKenzie.

“As noted by the Auditor General, Sport Australia managed the application and assessment process for the Community Sport Infrastructure Grant program. Sport Australia is an independent, statutory body.

“All successful projects funded were eligible for funding under the guidelines as independently assessed by Sport Australia. The process for approval of the grants is robust, transparent and in line with best practice.

“As such, I am confident that all grants made under the Community Sports Infrastructure program were assessed on their merits and decisions made according to due and proper governance process.

“It’s disappointing that Mr Dreyfus is playing cheap politics over what is an incredibly popular and important program.”