Barilaro report on bushfire funding sent to ICAC

Dominic Perrottet’s department has provided the NSW Auditor-General report — which found John Barilaro intervened in a $100m bushfire recovery program which led to Labor electorates missing out on emergency funding — over to ICAC.

Premier Dominic Perrottet’s department has provided the NSW Auditor-General report — which found former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro intervened in a $100 million bushfire recovery program which led to Labor electorates missing out on emergency funding — over to ICAC.

It can be revealed the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet handed over the document to the state’s corruption watchdog earlier today as Labor leader Chris Minns called on Mr Barilaro to answer questions about the intervention or be referred to ICAC.

A spokesman for the Premier said Mr Perrottet had already taken actions that had addressed the findings of the Auditor-General report, such as the strengthened Grants Administration Guide released last year.

“The Department of Premier and Cabinet has provided the Auditor-General report to the ICAC for their information,” he said.

“The Premier’s record on supporting communities hit by natural disasters is well known and the NSW Government will continue to support all communities in need with record funding.”

Chris Minns has threatened to refer John Barilaro to ICAC. Picture: NCA Newswire

“The Labor Party should not politicise ICAC and listen to the recent advice from ICAC chief commissioner John Hatzistergos when he said: ‘It is inappropriate to weaponise a referral to the commission for attention or political advantage. It is once again timely to remind candidates for public office that they should act properly in making referrals.’

This morning NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns gave Mr Barilaro 24 hours to “clear the air” or risk an ICAC referral after explosive findings he excluded Labor-held electorates from bushfire recovery grants.

The Premier’s officer provided the report to ICAC, and warned the Opposition not to weaponise referrals to the anti-corruption body. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The new report from the NSW Auditor-General cast a new light on how Mr Barilaro’s office handled more than half a billion dollars’ worth of grants to recover from the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, with the audit determining the administration process “lacked integrity”.

The findings infuriated Mr Minns, who threatened to involve the corruption watchdog if Mr Barilaro did not explain himself.

“I think it’s a basic fact of Australian life that if you’re in a disaster zone and you need help from your own government, it will come,” he told 2GB Radio on Friday.

NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns on Friday morning gave Mr Barilaro 24 hours to “clear the air” or risk an ICAC referral. Picture: Tim Hunter

“I couldn’t imagine a scenario where John Howard during the millennium drought cherrypicked National and Liberal Party electorates to give financial help.

“I don’t think any leader in any party has ever done this before and we need answers.”

The audit, tabled in NSW parliament on Thursday, found major issues in how the Department of Regional NSW issued $541.8m in grants through the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery (BLER) fund.

That program was set up to help communities recover from the devastating bushfires that killed 26 people in 2019 and early 2020.

The audit found Mr Barilaro — who resigned from politics in 2021 — intervened to impose a $1m threshold “without a documented reason” to fast-track projects.

It resulted in projects for Labor-held electorates requesting funding for amounts under the threshold being denied.

The Auditor-General’s report found there was little integrity during the administration process and no sufficient guidelines were detailed.

Mr Minns on Friday said Mr Barilaro needed to explain himself.

“If we don‘t get answers today and I mean in the next 24 hours, I do believe it needs to be referred to the ICAC to determine what happened here,” he said.

“Devastated communities deserve an explanation as to what’s happened.

“We can’t just let this float away into the news cycle, we need answers.”

In a statement, the Department of Regional NSW said projects not funded under the fast-tracked round of the BLER Fund received their funding under programs “better suited” to the projects.

“All projects funded under the fast-track round of funding were rigorously assessed and endorsed by the Commonwealth Government as meeting the national Local Economic Recovery Fund requirements,” a spokeswoman said.

“In September last year, the NSW Grants Administration Guide came into effect, helping to directly address the findings and recommendation of the Auditor-General’s report.”