Nine NSW marginal seats received almost half the total sports grants awarded across the state
Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie urged people to “vote one” for her party’s candidate in a marginal NSW seat as she announced a sports grant from a program found to unfairly favour electorates the government wanted to win.
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A federal government sport grants scheme used to splash cash in marginal seats ahead of the 2019 federal election was also deployed to traditionally safe seats where the Coalition was struggling, including being used in a last-ditch attempt to help Tony Abbott retain his seat.
The Mosman Rowing Club in Mr Abbott’s Warringah electorate was awarded a $500,000 grant in the final round of funding given out under the Community Sport Infrastructure Program in April 2019, just three weeks before voters went to the polls.
While an auditor-general’s report found no sporting organisation received funding when they were not eligible, it did find projects awarded funds from the oversubscribed program were more likely to be in key marginal seats.
The $500,000 for the rowing club — the highest amount a sporting organisation could receive under the program — was the majority of the cost it was estimated would be needed to renovate its club house with new boat racks and an extended pontoon.
In a tweet on April 24, Mr Abbott shared pictures of then-sports minister Bridget McKenzie and members of the rowing club for the funding announcement.
“It was wonderful to welcome @senbmckenzie to the Mosman Rowing Club down at the Spit,” he said.
“By investing $500,000 in the Mosman Rowing Club, we’re helping the great sport of rowing across our country.”
Ultimately the extra funding was not enough to save Mr Abbott, with voters ousting him from the once-safe Liberal seat just a few weeks later.
SPORTS GRANTS SCANDAL
The Daily Telegraph today revealed Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie urged people to “vote one” for her party’s candidate in a marginal NSW seat as she announced a sports grant from a program found to unfairly favour electorates the government wanted to win.
In a video posted to Facebook by then-Nationals candidate for Richmond, Matthew Fraser, Ms McKenzie announced the Mullumbimby Brunswick Valley Football Club would receive $200,000 from the Community Sports Infrastructure Grant program before adding “vote one for Matt”.
An auditor-general report this week slammed the administration of the $100 million sports grants program for being “bias” toward marginal seats.
Richmond was one of nine electorates in NSW with a margin of less than five per cent that received a share of more than $8.08 million in grant funding out of a total $18.45 million awarded across the state.
Labor’s Sports spokesman Don Farrell said Ms McKenzie had notified her own candidate of the grant before sitting MP Justine Elliot, slamming it as a “shameless” election tactic.
“It is a perfect example of how she misused public funds to support the campaigns of unelected Coalition candidates,” he said.
Meanwhile in the western Sydney electorate of Lindsay, then-Liberal candidate Melissa McIntosh was also present for the announcement of at least $199,000 in grants for sporting clubs in her seat, which was held by Labor at the time.
In a candidate profile during the election Ms McIntosh said she was “proud to recently announce funding” for the projects in Lindsay and did not mention they were the result of an existing government grant.
Ms McIntosh told The Daily Telegraph the grants were administered by the relevant department before the 2019 election took place.
“As the Liberal Candidate for Lindsay I welcomed this investment in sports infrastructure as I strongly believe that encouraging and supporting healthy lifestyles should be a key priority of any government,” she said.
Ms McKenzie yesterday refused to apologise for her handling of the grant fund insisting the no rules had been broken.
She did not rule out doing the same thing again.
“I will continue to use taxpayer funds appropriately and within the guidelines,” she said.
In the Labor-held marginal seat of Macquarie there were six grants announced for local clubs and parks, with all but one appearing on social media before the sitting MP was informed.
Macquarie MP Susan Templeman said sporting clubs needed to know the government was “playing fair” with grants.
“The members and volunteers who run grassroots sporting clubs rightly expect the process to be above board,” she said.
Other marginal NSW seats to receive almost three times more funding than safe seats on average include Reid, Gilmore, Dobell, Robertson, Banks and Eden-Monaro.
Originally published as Nine NSW marginal seats received almost half the total sports grants awarded across the state