Car park funding program ‘sports rorts on an industrial scale’, Labor says, after scathing report

The government has been accused of ‘sports rorts on an industrial scale’ after a scathing report on a huge pre-election funding allocation.

A $660m federal government scheme ignored areas most in need and targeted Liberal-held or marginal seats before the 2019 election, the auditor-general has found.

A scathing review from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) lashed the Commuter Car Park program, part of the $4.8bn Urban Congestion Fund, as “ineffective” and found money was allocated based on “political profile”.

Labor seized on the report to accuse the government of “sports rorts on an industrial scale”, but the Coalition insisted every dollar was allocated on merit.

Auditor-General Grant Hehir found 77 per cent of the sites were in Coalition-held electorates, selected in a process “not designed to be transparent”.

“The department’s approach to identifying and selecting commuter car park projects for funding commitment was not appropriate,” the report found.

The government has been accused of ‘sports rorts on an industrial scale’ after a scathing auditor-general report said a funding program targeted Coalition-held seats. Picture: NCA NewsWire/James Gourley

“It was not demonstrated that projects were selected on merit. The distribution of projects selected reflected the geographic and political profile of those given the opportunity by the government to identify candidates for funding consideration.”

The program, announced in the 2018-19 budget, aimed to construct car parks near train stations across Australia.

The report found then-urban infrastructure minister Alan Tudge only engaged “with some states” while his office asked for potential projects to be added to a state-by-state spreadsheet “with another column added in to signify how the priority was identified”.

“The minister’s office advised that it would then go through the spreadsheets with the Prime Minister’s office and the Deputy Prime Minister’s office, ahead of a related meeting between the Minister for Urban Infrastructure and the Prime Minister,” it said.

Mr Hehir castigated the department’s record-keeping, saying there was “little evidence” money allocation was “based on assessed merit”.

By the end of March this year, construction was underway at just five of the 47 sites originally announced, and only $76.5m of the $660m allocated had been paid.

Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher has accepted the report’s six recommendations, including demands for better record-keeping, but flatly denied politics were behind the funding allocation.

Paul Fletcher insists every dollar was allocated based on need. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Wayne Taylor

He insisted there was “no suggestion” his predecessor had acted outside of his ministerial discretion and the overarching aim of the program was “a sensible public policy objective”.

“The basis on which we committed to this program and the locations was based upon the evidence and the need,” he told the ABC.

“Let’s get some perspective here:this is about projects that are designed to get our transport network moving more effectively, reduce congestion in our big cities and get people moving around.”

But acting Labor infrastructure spokesman Andrew Giles said the government had demonstrated a “consistent pattern” in misusing funds, including during the so-called sports rorts scandal that forced Bridget McKenzie to resign from cabinet.

The report uncovered “sports rorts on an industrial scale”, he said, describing it as the “most shocking” seen during his time in parliament.

“What appears from this very shocking audit report is exactly the same suggestion that there are spreadsheets that were circulated for a meeting involving the Prime Minister, the then-Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister, which seemed to be the basis for these decisions,” he said.

Mr Giles accused Mr Fletcher of “thumbing his nose” at the public and demanded Mr Tudge explain himself.

“We will pursue every angle to get to the bottom of this misuse of $660m of public money,” he said.