ALP claims sports grants used to shore up LNP seats at May poll

A federal government grant program has come under fire after claims funds were used for pork-barrelling during this year’s May election.

The Queensland seats which got the largest share of funding per person were all held by the LNP.

A federal government grant program has come under fire after claims funds were used for pork-barrelling during this year’s May election.

The data, revealed at Estimates last week, showed some marginal Liberal-National seats in Queensland were given the lion’s share of funds from the federal Community Sport Infrastructure grants in the lead up to the poll.

2019 ELECTION LOOMS

RANKIN FINANCES

More than $100 million was doled out across 684 projects before the election using the fund, which was established to get more people interested in sports and to improve facilities.

Of the 30 state seats, Rankin, held by Labor’s Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers, fared the worst in terms of funding, scraping in a measly 9 cents per person or a total of $16,400.

Also down at the bottom of the pile was the seat of Moreton, held by labor’s Graham Perrett which got $1.53 per person and

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers said government seats got the lion’s share of funds from a sports grant and his Rankin electorate got the lowest allocation in the state.

The list of Queensland’s 30 electorates and the amount of funding each got from the federal Community Sport Infrastructure grants in the lead up to the May 18 poll.

The only surprise was funding for the Liberal seat of Fadden, held by Stuart Robert. It received the second lowest allocation of 16 cents per person.

The top five sporting allocations went to the LNP-held seats of Dawson, Petrie, Brisbane, Blair and Forde.

The North Queensland LNP seat of Dawson raked in $12.57 per person — a total of more than $2 million.

According to the analysis, released by the federal Labor Party, voters in the key southside marginal seat of Forde, which borders Rankin, pocketed $5.53 per person or a total of $1,009,618.

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Prior to the election, the LNP spent a great deal of time sandbagging Forde which had five visits by Prime Minister Scott Morrison during the campaign.

Mr Chalmers said the figures showed “a blatant imbalance in sports funding”.

“It means my electorate, which has the biggest population in Queensland of 103,570 voters, got 0.1 per cent of sports grants from the feds, which is 88 times less than the marginal Liberal electorate of Brisbane,” he said.

“Of the $21,017,948 allocated to Queensland, the single $16,400 spend in Rankin represents just 0.08 per cent.

“This is an absolute disgrace and more evidence of the Liberals and Nationals using taxpayer money to look after their mates.”

Mr Chalmers said Rankin deserved better after producing some of the country’s top athletes including league legend Cameron Smith, AFL star Katie Brennan, and union player Nick Cummins.

Rankin MP Jim Chalmers said his electorate deserved greater funding after producing stars such as AFL’s Katie Brennan.

He said hearings into the matter in Canberra last week revealed Nationals Minister Brigid McKenzie intervened personally in a number of cases to ensure money was funnelled into Liberal and National seats ahead of the election.

Ms McKenzie rejected 618 applications despite recommendations from Sport Australia to approve the projects.

Re-elected Forde MP Bert van Manen defended Ms McKenzie and said all applications were thoroughly assessed.

“Assessment was done according to eligibility and selection criteria before recommendations were made to a panel which reviewed the submissions and made recommendations for approval by the program delegate,” he said.