Labor MPs and candidates supported grants to organisations despite personal links

Several NSW Labor ministers, MPs and candidates promised hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of funding as part of the government’s controversial grant program to community organisations they were personally involved in.

The Local Small Commitments Allocation program saw every Labor MP and candidate in each of the state’s 93 electorates during the March state election given $400,000 to distribute to local community projects in their area, pending a probity checking process.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Harris nominated Soldiers Beach SLSC for $20,000 – a club where he previously served as president and is still a member.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

So far, according to documents released to the parliament in November, 48 of the 439 projects nominated by Labor MPs and candidates have been approved, with others still being assessed or rejected.

The documents show Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Harris committed $20,000 to the Soldiers Beach Surf Life Saving Club – a club he was a former president and current member of – for a new paint job.

Harris, who served as president of the Central Coast club for over six years until 2016, told the parliament in September he had recently renewed his membership: “I recommend a visit to Soldiers Beach to all members who might be looking for somewhere to get away and have a bit of a break.”

A premier’s department assessment outcome report approving funding for the Soldiers Beach SLSC does not mention Harris’s involvement with the club.

The Herald is not suggesting any MPs benefited financially from their awarding of grants. Labor has defended the grants program, saying it had been intentionally designed to prevent pork-barrelling. The government had taken the “extraordinary step” to put every single project through a “rigorous probity process”, a spokeswoman for Premier Chris Minns said in late August.

Under the ongoing Community Building Partnership programs, community organisations nominate themselves for funding, and the department selects a list of projects for the local MP to choose from.

Likewise, Pittwater candidate Jeffrey Quinn promised $50,000 to Northern Beaches Community Connect, a not-for-profit organisation providing support and assistance to residents of Sydney’s north-eastern enclave.

A former school teacher and director of tutoring provider Frontrunner Learning Centres, Quinn sits on the Community Connect’s board of directors, according to the organisation’s website and documents lodged with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

During his unsuccessful tilt for the northern NSW seat of Clarence, candidate Leon Ankersmit also promised $40,000 to Anglicare North Coast, the Christian not-for-profit he served as chief executive until he resigned to unsuccessfully run for Labor’s campaign in October.

Funding approval for both Anglicare North Coast and Community Connect is still pending. Harris, Quinn and Ankersmit did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for the NSW government said: “Every single project is subject to a rigorous probity, community benefit and value-for-money assessment process, including by an expert independent assessment panel.”

“Independent probity advisors have been appointed to advise on the management of conflicts of interest and provide probity advice as part of the assessment and approval process.”

The revelations come just months after this masthead revealed Labor Camden MP Sally Quinnell promised $75,000 to a musical society she helped establish and served as a committee member until June 14, 2022.

The premier’s office at the time said Quinnell had declared her conflict of interest, but the funding was yet to be approved, according to documents released to the parliament.

As has been previously reported, Dubbo candidate Josh Black provided Dubbo Regional Council – the council he serves on – with $396,000 for a riverside picnic area. The revelation led to councillor Richard Ivey questioning the lack of transparency in the nomination process.

Labor Balmain candidate Philippa Scott’s campaign manager Kieran Ash – the transport bureaucrat at the centre of the staffing scandal in Jo Haylen’s ministerial office – offered $20,000 Leichhardt Public School P&C in grant funding under the Local Small Commitments Allocation after Scott was approached by P&C members.

As reported by this masthead at the time, the offer was ultimately rejected by the P&C, who raised concerns about accepting grants without an open competitive process, saying “we want to be awarded grants on merit”.

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