Novelty cheques to pork barrelling: Damning audit of sports grants released
The ex-sport minister has refused to apologise after a scathing report found at least $100m in sport grants targeted marginal electorates – sparked by the huge novelty cheque from Georgina Downer to a bowling club.
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A federal government minister says she will not apologise despite the auditor-general finding she awarded grants from a $100 million fund based on electorates the Coalition wanted to win, rather than on merit.
A damning audit prompted by former Liberal candidate Georgina Downer’s novelty cheque stunt has uncovered pork-barrelling of tens of millions of dollars in sports grants.
The probe found proper processes were ignored and the grants were not awarded based on merit – but former sport minister Bridget McKenzie insists that no rules were broken.
The scathing report from Auditor-General Grant Hehir also raised concerns that there were “no records” giving National Party Senator McKenzie legal authority to approve the community sport infrastructure applications.
It says the minister’s office ran its own assessment of applications that focused on “marginal electorates held by the Coalition, as well as those electorates held by other parties or independent members that were to be targeted” at last year’s election.
“There was evidence of distribution bias in the award of grant funding,” the report says.
“Applications from projects located in those electorates were more successful in being awarded funding than if funding was allocated on the basis of merit. The award of grant funding was not informed by an appropriate assessment process and sound advice.”
Asked if she would apologise for how the $100 million was handled, the deputy Nationals leader said “not at all”.
The now-Agriculture Minister defended the successful applications, saying they were eligible to apply.
“No rules were broken in this program,” Senator McKenzie told ABC radio on Thursday.
“The reality was there were many hundreds of meritorious projects that we just didn’t have the funding available for.”
Nine of the 10 electorates approved to receive the most money were either marginal seats or ones being eyed by the coalition.
These seats would have received less funding if Sports Australia merit assessments had been used.
More than 60 per cent of applications were funded despite not reaching the necessary assessment score.
Labor has called for Senator McKenzie to resign.
Opposition frontbencher Tony Burke said he’s never seen an auditor-general’s report with such a funding.
“It wasn’t even her money to misappropriate,” he told ABC news. “And they did anyway. This says everything about Scott Morrison.”
Independent MP for Warringah Zali Steggall said it shows Australia needs a national integrity commission with “real powers”.
Senator McKenzie said on Wednesday: “All projects selected for funding were eligible to receive it.”
In each application, Sport Australia gave its own assessment based on guidelines.
The report made four recommendations to overhaul the grant program for Sport Australia, which said it accepted the advice and was “already taking steps” to address it.
Sport Minister Richard Colbeck said the Government would “take action” with Sport Australia to address the report’s findings.
Opposition sports spokesman Don Farrell said the pork-barrelling could not go unpunished.
“This betrayal of the sporting community means it is now impossible for clubs to have any faith that this Government will assess their grant applications on merit,” he said.
Funding totalling $100 million was awarded to 684 projects across three rounds. At least 417 applications approved did not meet the assessment score and 167 had not been recommended by Sport Australia
Labor raised concerns about the program in February 2019 after Liberal candidate for Mayo, Georgina Downer, controversially presented a $127,373 novelty cheque to Yankalilla Bowling Club.
At an estimates hearing in April, Sport Australia chief executive Kate Palmer said the commission recommended Yankalilla Bowling Club’s application be approved in round one of the grants program.
– with AAP
Originally published as Novelty cheques to pork barrelling: Damning audit of sports grants released