Taxpayer money splashed on ineligible jobs projects

A damning report into a grants program meant to create jobs in regional areas has found there was political interference and little accountability, with one project still given money despite being ineligible.

TAXPAYER cash was splashed out on a project that was found to be ineligible for funding under a grants program meant to create jobs in regional areas.

A damning independent assessment of the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages program found one in every five funding decisions – worth more than $150 million dollars – were overturned by a Ministerial panel.

The report, which was released by the Federal Government during the Melbourne Cup race, found there was political interference, little accountability and almost no conflict of interest management in the grants program.

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Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack oversaw the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages program. Picture: Jerad Williams

The highest number of discrepancies in the national program were in the Bowen Basin and Wide Bay/Burnett regions, covering five electorates all held by the LNP.

Little reason was given for overturning departmental advice, other than that the assessment was wrong, the Australian National Audit Office found.

Despite the criticism, the ANAO did not identify which projects had funding approved or rejected against advice, only saying “there was no bias clearly evident in the decision making”.

The RJIP grant program was meant to provide funding for infrastructure upgrades, to help businesses to access new markets or to training projects.

There were 233 projects approved for funding worth $220 million, including 51 in Queensland given $70 million. There were more than 700 applications overall.

There were 64 projects seeking $75 million that were rejected against departmental advice, 73 per cent of which were in Coalition seats. Another 68 projects seeking $77 million were approved funding against advice, 60 per cent of which were in Coalition seats.

There were 12 projects which applied for funding which were found to be ineligible, including one which was still given taxpayer money.

Registered training organisations and TAFE’s were ineligible for funding.

The ineligible project granted funding was a registered training organisation but was approved because “the Minister’s Office showed a strong preference to fund this project”, deeming the RTO aspect of its business to be “incidental to the project seeking funding”.

Up to 70 per cent of projects recommended for approval were rejected in the Bowen Basin and Wide Bay regions, a rate more than three times the average.

Labor’s infrastructure spokeswoman Catherine King demanded a full explanation for the decisions.

Opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Catherine King is demanding an explanation for the problems with the grants program. Picture: Kym Smith

“If the Deputy Prime Minister fails to provide an adequate response to this scathing audit, Labor will pursue the Morrison Government through the Parliament,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who oversaw the project, said they had noted the reports findings.

“It is worth noting the report concluded there was no bias evident in the assessment and decision making process concerning funding of projects in RJIP regions over others,” she said.