NSW to review how grants are handed out amid pork-barrelling concerns

Premier Dominic Perrottet has ordered a review of his government’s processes for awarding taxpayer-funded grants, after Gladys Berejiklian’s appearance at a corruption inquiry reignited controversy over pork-barrelling in marginal seats.

Further distancing himself from his predecessor Ms Berejiklian’s previous comments that pork-barrelling was widespread and “not illegal”, Mr Perrottet has tasked the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Productivity Commissioner with reviewing how grants should be administered and assessed.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has ordered a review into how government grants are handed out in NSW.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“Taxpayers expect the distribution of public funds will be fair – I share that expectation,” he said.

Mr Perrottet said the objective of the review was to ensure all grants administered by the NSW government for community-based projects including sporting fields, playgrounds and local infrastructure “deliver value for public money and are robust in planning and design”.

The review will ensure the programs are allocated following the “key principles of transparency, accountability and probity”, Mr Perrottet said.

It will produce new guidelines and consider those from other jurisdictions in Australia, as well as consider recommendations made by “NSW parliamentary, integrity and oversight bodies”.

One of the most controversial funds for the government has been the Stronger Communities scheme, in which the vast majority of $250 million in funding went to councils in Coalition-held electorates leading up to the last election.

An upper house inquiry into the fund found there was no application or assessment process for the scheme, and the eligible councils were the ones who were identified by the government as being so.

Late last year, then-premier Ms Berejiklian conceded the program may have shored up Coalition votes and insisted the practice of pork-barrelling was “not illegal”.

Ms Berejiklian said grants handed out through the program went to most Coalition-held seats because, she said, “guess what? There are more Coalition seats than any other”.

The former premier said voters may not be comfortable with pork-barrelling, but all governments used it “from time to time”.

Ms Berejiklian stuck to her views when she faced the Independent Commission Against Corruption, conceding on Monday the allocation of public money to specific electorates was often done to “curry favour” with voters to win elections.

“At the end of the day, whether we like it or not, that’s democracy,” she told ICAC.

However, Mr Perrottet said he had never shared Ms Berejiklian’s stance on pork-barrelling.

“Whatever community you are in you should have access to the best healthcare, the best education, the best public transport,” Mr Perrottet said earlier this week.

The upper house parliamentary inquiry into government grants, chaired by Greens MP David Shoebridge, found “not only is the vast array of grant programs wasteful and inefficient, but grant programs are also currently open to abuse”.

“Assessment processes and the role of Ministerial discretion in decisions lack transparency. Government MPs have input into identification and even assessment of projects while non-government MPs are often excluded,” the committee report tabled in March said.

“The committee came to the conclusion that the current grants system is broken and in need of a fundamental overhaul.”

One of the grants used as a “case study” in Ms Berejiklian’s ICAC inquiry was $5.5 million for the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga Wagga, the electorate of Ms Berejiklian’s then boyfriend, disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire.

Several bureaucrats held serious concerns about the grant, ICAC heard, with one describing the business case justifying the money as “flimsy” and “deficient”. It was ultimately funded after it was ticked off by a subcommittee of cabinet chaired by Ms Berejiklian.

Mr Perrottet said “transparency and accountability” were critical in the allocation of public money.

“We’re committed to providing value for money when it comes to grants, this review of processes will ensure that happens,” he said.

Mr Perrottet said taxpayers would “expect that from time to time we would review these processes and that is what we’re doing”.

“The review will study best practice in other jurisdictions and provide assurance that we are meeting the highest standards in our processes and approach,” he said.

Treasurer Matt Kean said the review would ensure the government has “rigorous and robust processes in place to give the community confidence”.

“The public expects that we deliver value for money and that we are investing in things that improve our quality of life, our productivity and set our state up for the future,” he said.

An updated guide and any recommendations will be handed to Mr Perrottet by April and will include consultation across the public sector, including a working group made up of representatives from the key agencies that administer grants.

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