Report finds pork barrelling with taxpayer funded grants promotes a ‘corrupt culture’ in government

Living in a government-held state or federal seat more than doubles the chances of getting grant funding, a shocking new report has found.

Living in a government-held state or federal seat more than doubles the chances of getting grant funding, a shocking new report investigating pork barrelling in Australia has found.

Stronger oversight is needed to stop taxpayer dollars being used for pork barrelling in marginal electorates leading to “poor quality” projects going ahead over higher value ones, the Grattan Institute has recommended following a study released on Monday.

The report catalogued “egregious examples” of Labor and Coalition federal and state grants for infrastructure to “reward” voters in government seats and “buy votes” in marginal electorates, all at the expense of other “worthy projects”.

Analysis of the 19,000 grants allocated by the former Coalition federal government through 11 programs between 2017 and 2021, found $1.9 billion went to Liberal or Nationals seats compared to only $530 million given to Labor ones.

Grattan Institute chief executive Danielle Wood said pork barrelling might be “legally grey,” but it was “not good government”.

The Liberal and Nationals seats received more than double the grant funding as Labor under the Coalition Government, the Grattan Institute found. Picture: Steven Saphore / AFP

“It wastes taxpayers’ money, undermines public trust in our political leaders and institutions, and promotes a corrupt culture,” she said.

“Pork-barrelling is not new but is being normalised – some politicians now excuse it or even openly defend it.”

State and territory governments from both sides of politics tend to favour their own seats when awarding grants. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ms Wood said current rules designed to prevent the politicisation of grant programs left “too much wiggle room” for politicians.

“Taking the pork off the table would improve the quality of public spending and strengthen our democracy,” she said.

Across a sample of programs in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, the Grattan Institute found government-held seats got more than $1m on average, compared to about $300,000 on average for opposition electorates.

In Queensland, ministerial discretion was used to make 32 changes to department recommendations in 2018 for a Female Facilities Program, resulting in an increased share of grants awarded to Labor government electorates at the expense of opposition seats.

A proposed new car park in Melbourne to be funded through a federal government grant.

The report also criticised the controversial $660m Commuter Car Park scheme run by the former Morrison Government, noting successful recipients were “largely chosen by agreement between ministers and the prime minister” and appeared “politically driven”.

The Grattan Institute recommended a “crack down” on pork barrelling, by ensuring grant programs were “open, competitive and merit based”.

It also recommended multi-party committees oversee compliance and be empowered to interrogate any minister or public official who “deviates from the rules,” while funding for auditors should be increased as an extra layer of scrutiny.

The report found “checks on ministerial discretion” have already been imposed successfully in some grant programs.

In the NSW Greater Cities and Regional Sport Facility Fund, the minister retained the power to make the final decision, but a panel assessed applications against program criteria and made recommendations to the minster.