In the race to be Australia’s ‘lord mayor’, Albanese has a $1.2 billion case to answer

Labor has ramped up its spending on local projects in a bid to sway voters in some of the toughest battlegrounds at the federal election, pledging more than $1.2 billion this month amid a political row with the Coalition over spending cuts.

The promises have swamped the Coalition’s spending plans in some of the key electorates that will shape the election as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton limits local pledges and focuses instead on national policies such as his proposal for nuclear power stations.

Anthony Albanese has far outpaced Peter Dutton with more than $1.2 billion in pledges for local projects.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

The local spending ranges from a Labor pledge to fund a new aquatic centre in Perth to a Liberal promise to fix lights at a suburban cricket field in Melbourne, as well as national plans to upgrade highways or build more homes.

The promises, based on a tally of pledges from both major parties as they campaign in key seats, have triggered concerns about the way federal grants are decided after years of dispute about whether the major parties are using taxpayer funds to “buy” votes in target seats.

The local campaigns come as Treasurer Jim Chalmers moves to defend the government over the rising cost of living by arguing that households would be $7200 worse off if the Coalition was in power.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced funding for an aquatic centre for an aquatic centre in Perth on January 10.Credit: Getty Images

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised $12.7 million for a theatre and arts centre in Launceston in the seat of Bass, $5 million for Nowra housing projects in Gilmore and $6 million for the “living city” project in Devonport, in the marginal seat of Braddon.

Dutton has promised $1.5 million for hockey fields in Goulburn, in the electorate of Eden-Monaro, $45 million for Shoalhaven roads in Gilmore and $400,000 to upgrade lighting at the Malvern Cricket Ground, which is in the seat of Kooyong.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pledges money for extra lights for a cricket ground in Melbourne on January 13. Credit: AAP

Similar strategies at previous elections led to quips that national leaders were running to be “mayor of Australia” with their spending, while the Australian National Audit Office strongly criticised Coalition programs to fund sports facilities and railway station car parks.

The spending announced this month appears to come from known funding programs, according to expert observers who have tracked similar grants in the past, but it signals a growing effort to use highly localised pledges to win marginal seats in a tight election.

Former NSW Supreme Court judge Anthony Whealy, KC, chairman of the not-for-profit Centre for Public Integrity, said the onus was on major parties to prove their spending would represent value for money.

“The grants announced by both major parties prior to the forthcoming election appear to be grounded on valid existing schemes, but there remain two other important prohibitions that may come into play,” he said.

“Pre-election pork promises must eventually pass through these hurdles before they can be considered valid.”

First, he said, Commonwealth legislation required the grants to represent efficient, economical and ethical use of public money.

Second, the dominant purpose of a grant must be the public interest rather than any consideration of political benefit.

Most of the government announcements were already factored into the budget and do not deepen the deficit, but Dutton is telling voters that Labor is spending too much and adding to inflation.

“The Albanese government has spent money like drunken sailors,” Dutton said on Sunday when discussing Senator Jacinta Nampajinpa Price’s new “government efficiency” portfolio.

“The Reserve Bank governor’s warned the prime minister not to be wasteful in spending and the whole idea of Jacinta’s appointment is to continue the work of Coalition governments past, to clean up Labor’s mess, to identify where taxpayers’ money is being wasted.”

Albanese is responding by warning that Coalition spending cuts would put services at risk and arguing that Dutton would commit $331 billion over 25 years – an estimate from Coalition policy papers – to building nuclear power stations.

“The Liberals are prescribing a lethal dose of cuts to all the help we have provided families with their cost of living,” the prime minister said on Friday.

The biggest Labor promises this month included $7.2 billion for the Bruce Highway – crucial for Queensland electorates – and $3.8 billion for the national broadband network, as well as $2 billion in aluminium production credits and a $2 billion investment in the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

In addition to those pledges, Albanese outlined $1.2 billion in local commitments and broader pledges on housing and roads – such as $159 million for the Growing Regions program in Queensland and $500 million for roads connecting to the Western Sydney Airport.

Dutton promised $5 billion for housing infrastructure last October – one of his biggest outlays – but has limited his policies to smaller sums so far this month, adding up to about $52.5 million.

The Coalition list includes the Shoalhaven road funding as well as $7.5 million for the Crime Stoppers program, which Dutton announced in the Melbourne seat of Aston, seen as a key swing seat because it was once held by the Liberals but won by Labor at a by-election in April 2023.

Labor said it had already committed $40 million to the Shoalhaven roads, so the Coalition duplicated most of its spending.

Several of the Labor pledges were funded from the Growing Regions program, which was set up by Labor after the 2022 election to allocate $600 million in two rounds, with the second round closing for applications last October.

Labor funded the program in part by shutting down the Building Better Regions Fund set up by the Coalition, a scheme strongly criticised by the Auditor-General for favouring projects in seats held by Coalition MPs.

An audit of the Growing Regions program last year found the Labor scheme was open, competitive and largely effective.

In a funding blitz for Queensland in the first week of this year, the government drew on the Growing Regions fund to announce $159 million for more than a dozen projects including a community centre in Cairns, a streetscape renewal in Maroochydore, a harbour upgrade in Gladstone and a street redevelopment in Cloncurry.

Cairns is a key target for Labor because it is the largest population centre in the electorate of Leichhardt, where longstanding Coalition MP Warren Entsch is retiring at the election, although the $159 million was spread across safe as well as marginal electorates.

In Western Australia, the government promised $200 million for housing and infrastructure projects, including money from the Growing Regions program.

The latest spending promises have offered help to key communities in Tasmania, where Labor is seeking to defeat Liberal MP Bridget Archer in the marginal electorate of Bass and replace outgoing Liberal MP Gavin Pearce in neighbouring Braddon.

Catherine Williams, executive director of the Centre for Public Integrity, said some of the projects announced this month raised questions about whether the federal spending was justified.

“We all too often see reflected in local grant-making the failure by federal governments to respect the constitutional limitations on their ability to spend,” she said.

“It is difficult to see what constitutional basis there could be for the Commonwealth funding an aquatic centre in Perth.”

The $88 million Alkimos Aquatic Centre is backed by $30 million from the federal government, $12.6 million from the state government and $45.3 million from the City of Wanneroo. It is in the seat of Pearce, held by Labor, and near the seats of Cowan and Hasluck, also held by Labor. It is also close to the seat of Moore, won by the Coalition by just 1385 votes at the last election.

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