Labor pumps cash into battleground states

The federal government has splashed more than $600 million on community infrastructure projects in the three battleground states – Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia – that will play an outsized role in determining if Labor can secure re-election.

The two programs, Thriving Suburbs and Growing Regions, award between $500,000 and $15 million to local councils and not-for-profits for projects including swimming pools, community hubs, high street upgrades and sports ovals.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.Credit: Aresna Villanueva

The Morrison government was punished by voters at the last election for directing cash splashes at Coalition seats, through programs including the Community Sports Infrastructure Grant program, which become known as “sports rorts”, the Safer Communities and the Commuter Carparks schemes, with the auditor-general delivering a scathing verdict.

An analysis of the Growing Regions program by this masthead shows the $593 million has heavily favoured the Coalition, which holds the majority of country seats.

Western Australia swung hard to Labor at the last election and was instrumental in Anthony Albanese securing majority government, while Victoria has been a Labor stronghold at recent elections. By spending big in these states – and splashing cash in Queensland, where Labor holds just five seats and hopes to gain ground – the federal government is attempting to protect what it holds and make gains in the sunshine state.

But in the suburbs of Australia’s capital cities, where Labor holds the majority of seats, about $315 million has been allocated through Thriving Suburbs and ALP-held seats have been the major beneficiaries.

ALP seats have been awarded about $238.8 million to 50 projects across the country, while 13 projects in Coalition seats have been awarded $60.7 million and seven seats held by independent MPs have shared in $18.1 million.

Almost half a billion – $477.3 million – in Growing Regions funding has been promised to 85 Coalition projects in the country, while 11 projects in Labor seats won $28.7 million and 17 projects in independent seats were handed $87.2 million.

In the Thriving Suburbs program, as well, some key Coalition-held marginals targeted by Labor have also been handsomely rewarded with money for small projects, including the Queensland seat of Leichhardt ($39.1 million, nine projects, margin 3.4 per cent), the Tasmanian seat of Bass ($26.4 million, three projects, margin 1.4 per cent), the Victorian seats of Deakin ($15 million, two projects, margin 0.02 per cent) and Casey ($16.5 million, three projects, margin 1.4 per cent).

Labor’s must-hold marginal Perth seats of Tangney ($15 million, one project, margin 2.8 per cent), Hasluck ($18.9 million, two projects, margin 10 per cent), Pearce ($17.7 million, three projects, 8.8 per cent) were all big winners, as were the must-hold Melbourne seats of Hawke ($19 million, two projects, 7.6 per cent) and Gorton ($15 million, one project, 10 per cent) and the Sydney seat of Macquarie ($13.5 million, two projects, 6.3 per cent).

A total of 95 capital city seats were eligible for grants under the Thriving Suburbs programs, with 50 projects going to Labor seats, 12 to Coalition seats and 10 being awarded to independent seats. The Greens, who hold four electorates, missed out entirely in the Thriving Suburbs program.

In total, the city and regional programs were worth more than $900 million.

Since Infrastructure Minister Catherine King gave final sign-off to the Thriving Suburbs and Growing Regions community grants applications late last year, she has been making a series of announcements of cash for everything from swimming pools to playgrounds and toilet blocks at a series of photo opportunities with Labor MPs and candidates.

In January, King crisscrossed the country to announce funding for small projects, including to Cairns with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and candidate Matt Smith to announce $2 million funding for the local PCYC, Mittagong to announce $4.3 million for the local memorial hall alongside Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and to Corio to announce $660,000 for the Norlane Scout group alongside deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.

In Brisbane, Labor holds five suburban seats to the Coalition’s seven, but ALP seats were awarded four projects to the opposition’s two. In dollar terms, Labor seats received $7 million to the Coalition’s $4.7 million.

In Melbourne, Labor holds 72 per cent of suburban seats but won 84 per cent of the projects from Thriving Suburbs, translating to $93 million for 20 projects versus $26 million for six Coalition projects.

In suburban Perth, Labor holds 75 per cent of the seats and 11 community projects worth $74.5 million were approved while the Coalition, which holds 16.6 per cent of the seats, was awarded two projects worth a total of $4.4 million.

And in Sydney, where Labor holds 18 suburban seats, the Coalition holds seven and the crossbench five seats, the numbers were askew – Labor seats won 7 seats worth $31.4 million, the Coalition won two worth $12.8 million and the crossbench won six projects worth $17.3 million.

Bob Katter had eight projects approved in his electorate, Kennedy.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Queensland independent MP Bob Katter, a potential kingmaker in the event of a hung parliament, had eight community projects worth $43 million approved for his seat of Kennedy, while NSW independent Andrew Gee – a former Nationals member – was also a big winner with $22.2 million promised to projects in his seat of Calare. These were the sixth and 12th highest spends in the country.

Fellow king-making independents Zali Steggall (Warringah, NSW, $7.1 million), Sophie Scamps (Wentworth, NSW, $7 million) and Victorian independent Helen Haines (Indi, $5.7 million) - all of whom will be crucial in the event neither major party can form majority government after the next election - also saw community groups win funding for projects and were among the top 50 best-funded.

But while Labor seats have been the major beneficiaries of the Thriving Suburbs program, the federal government cannot be accused of withholding funding for Coalition-held seats in the regions, with Liberal and National seats, in particular, winning the vast majority of the nearly $600 million spent through the two rounds of the Growing Regions program.

Five safe Coalition seats – WA’s Durack and O’Connor, NSW’s Parkes and Queensland’s Dawson and Maranoa (held by National leader David Littleproud) – all received more than $40 million for a range of projects, more than any other seat in the country.

During a January visit to Queensland, Albanese made a funding announcement of $7.2 billion to upgrade the Bruce Highway, which runs from Brisbane to Cairns, and was asked why he had made the announcement in Gympie, in the safe Coalition seat of Wide Bay.

“I’ve never been about allocating infrastructure investment on the basis of what way people vote. It’s about the national interest in doing the right thing and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

However, Queensland Liberal National MP Garth Hamilton, who holds the seat of Groom, said that Toowoomba is Australia’s largest inland city “and yet Labor couldn’t find a single cent for us in this program”.

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King in question time last week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“It’s hard enough for regions like mine to compete with the big cities. This program was supposed to help with that. We’ve been had,” he said.

A spokeswoman for King said the Albanese government was restoring integrity and transparency to local grant programs after a damning 2020 ANAO report which found the Coalition actively ignored grant guidelines and department recommendations.

“They were blatantly using grants for political purposes. By contrast, under the Albanese Government, the Growing Regions Program and the Thriving Suburbs program are competitive and application-based and not designed to support any particular geographic distribution,” the said.

“All applications are independently assessed on their merits by the Business Grants Hub, as well as by a multi-party panel, to ensure integrity and transparency. The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication and the Arts then made recommendations on which projects should be funded.”

“Unlike the Coalition, who assessed grants projects in the political offices of the Nationals and Scott Morrison, these programs have clear and transparent guidelines and a robust assessment processes.”

Grants allocated under Labor’s capital city and regional programs are submitted to the infrastructure department and go through a long process, including being vetted by a panel of MPs from across the political spectrum.

The department then gives recommendations to King, the infrastructure minister, on which projects should receive funding. She makes the final decisions.

Both Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have adopted a strategy of using local projects to bolster their popularity, with the government overall committing more than $1.2 billion as the election approaches.

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