Labor MP Meng Heang Tak’s employee is secretary of Mentone footy club awarded SRL grant

An $80,000 grant was given to a footy club while its secretary was working for an MP, raising questions about whether the proper process was followed.

St Bedes/Mentone Tigers was awarded an $80,000 grant to pay for these lights while Peter Davis works in the electorate office of Clarinda MP Meng Heang Tak. Picture: Facebook

A Labor MP’s electorate officer is the secretary of a suburban footy club that received $80,000 for lighting upgrades through a Suburban Rail Loop grants scheme.

Mentone and St Bede’s Football Club received the cash via the first round of the SRL Community Projects Fund.

It was among multiple successful applicants revealed by the Herald Sun that were several kilometres from future construction sites for the SRL.

The club’s ground is in Mentone, about 4.1km from the site of the proposed Cheltenham SRL station.

An artist’s impression of the Cheltenham SRL Station.

Club secretary Peter Davis works in the electorate office of Clarinda MP Meng Heang Tak and has been involved in communications with residents ­affected by the project on Mr Tak’s behalf.

He worked for the MP when the government was ­accepting applications and when the club was awarded the $80,000 grant.

The state government says Mr Davis did not contact the Suburban Rail Loop Authority or other government representatives about the grant.

The application was handled by the club board, which he does not sit on.

Meng Heang Tak.

“The assessment for this project was made on its merits by the SRLA Community Projects Fund grants team, subject to the CPF criteria and was also reviewed by a probity auditor,” a spokesman said.

Mr Davis petitioned for the project on behalf of the club since at least 2018, when he used a Victorian government website dubbed “Pick My Project” calling for the state government to fund the lighting initiative.

On the same website he was supportive of multiple community sport upgrades across the community that were looking for funding.

The community is divided over the grant, which alongside a donations drive that secured $55,000 allowed the club to get lights for night games.

Some critics have called it a slush fund while others say the spending is justified because club members live in areas that will be affected by years of SRL construction pain.

“Victorians deserve to know how this grant was awarded to a sports club with such clear connections to the Andrews government,” deputy opposition leader David Southwick said.

“With rorts, ghost shifts and dodgy invoicing rife across big build sites, Labor’s SRL grants program must be independently reviewed to ensure a proper and transparent process is followed.”

The SRL Community Projects Fund has dished out millions of dollars to sport and community groups, including for scoreboards, theatre productions, podcasts and even to boost “diversity and inclusion in Ultimate Frisbee”.

It is part of a $250m fund to “support, strengthen and enhance healthy, safe and sustainable local communities and places in the SRL East Precincts surrounding the future stations at Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill and in other areas in the vicinity of SRL East surface infrastructure”.

As revealed by the Herald Sun this year, several clubs given grants are several kilometres from station sites – some in different postcodes.

The government has said ­applications were “evaluated on their merit through an open, competitive grant mechanism”.