'Doesn't know what's going on': PM savages NSW Environment Minister

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has widened the split with the NSW government in issuing a savage rebuke to the state's Environment Minister over claims senior Coalition members are privately pushing for more ambitious emission reduction targets.

Speaking on ABC's AM program, Mr Morrison said Environment Minister Matt Kean "doesn't know what he's talking about" and that "most of the federal cabinet wouldn't even know who Matt Kean was".

Scott Morrison has defended embattled minister Bridget McKenzie.Credit: Getty

Mr Kean, who has publicly linked Australia's ongoing bushfire crisis to climate change, previously said the Prime Minister was under pressure from his own ministers for greater action on emissions.

"He doesn't know what's going on in the federal cabinet," Mr Morrison said. "We are dealing with our climate policies in the same way as we took them to the election. We will meet and beat our emissions reduction targets."

Mr Morrison also defended embattled Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie on Monday morning for her role in allocating $100 million in community sports grants.

An independent review released last week found the Morrison government used the sports grants program as a virtual slush fund for its re-election efforts, overlooking projects approved by an independent panel in favour of splashing cash in "targeted" seats.

"Every single one of the projects approved was eligible, every rule followed in relation to the program. The rules were followed. We are looking closely at the report," Mr Morrison told Seven's Sunrise on Monday, following calls for Senator McKenzie to resign.

The damning review has drawn widespread comparisons to the "sports rorts affair" of 1993-94, when an audit condemned the Keating government's distribution of sports grants to marginal electorates under a $30 million scheme.

Sports minister Ros Kelly later resigned after it was found she has misled Parliament over the fact one of the projects funded was ineligible.

Asked by AM if his office was involved in the decision-making process, Mr Morrison said: "The decisions were done in accordance with the process the minister set out, and that was that the minister made those decisions and they were actioned in an endorsing way by Sports Australia. That's how it worked."

Senator McKenzie said last week that "no rules were broken" and she was given discretionary powers "for a purpose" in the program's guidelines.

"What that actually meant was that there were more projects supported and funded in Labor seats than if that ministerial discretion had not been deployed," Senator McKenzie said.

Mr Morrison conceded the Auditor-General's report into the handing out of the grants was "very serious".

"We are acting on its recommendations and moving quickly to do that," he said. "And on top of that, there are some legal issues that were raised by the Auditor-General which I'm moving quickly with the Attorney-General to ensure they're clarified as soon as possible."

AAP