Estimates: Dom Perrottet oversaw change to bushfire grant threshold

NSW Premier is facing questions over how much he knew about a controversial bushfire grants rort that ripped off towns destroyed by the blaze.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is facing questions over bombshell allegations he was in charge of the cabinet committee that allowed the bushfire grants rort.

The state’s Auditor-General earlier this month found then deputy premier John Barilaro’s office quietly changed the minimum threshold of an application to $1m, meaning a number of short-listed projects – primarily located in Labor-held electorates – missed out on funds.

Senate estimates heard on Tuesday that decision was made within the NSW cabinet’s Expenditure Review Committee, which was chaired by Mr Perrottet who was then treasurer.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said the revelation that a cabinet committee had been involved in the decision to move funds away from Labor electorates was “an absolutely disgraceful way to treat bushfire victims in their hour of need”.

“It’s bad enough that these people had to go through those bushfires, lose their homes, in some cases lose family members and precious possessions,” Senator Watt said on Tuesday morning.

“But to learn that a Liberal and National Party government interfered directly and moved funds away from them because of the way they voted or the colour of the seat that they lived in, that is an absolute disgrace.

“The Premier has to answer for this … He was chairing the ERC at the time. So he’s got some serious questions to answer.”

Mr Perrottet told reporters he had no recollection of the issue being raised at ERC, and the premier’s office later said there was no record of it being discussed.

Senate estimates on Monday heard a NSW cabinet committee overseen by then-treasurer Dominic Perrottet made the decision about the bushfire grants. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The $541.8m Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Program, jointly funded by the commonwealth and state governments, was set up to help communities recover from the devastating bushfires that killed 26 people in 2019 and early 2020.

The report found almost all of the successful “fast-tracked” projects were in Coalition electorates, while three Labor local government areas severely impacted by the bushfires – the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Lismore – were excluded from the fast-track funding.

The Blue Mountains city council had lodged 24 grant applications – totalling $5.45 million combined.

The report ultimately found Mr Bariliaro’s office didn’t “effectively engage with stakeholders” during the process, while Opposition leader Chris Minns accused Mr Barilaro’s office of “pork barrelling”.

The BLER fund was administered by the state.

In response to the report, the Department of Regional NSW said projects not funded under the fast-tracked round of the BLER Fund received their funding under programs “better suited” to the projects.

Senator Murray Watt said Mr Perrottet had questions to answer. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

At senate estimates on Monday, a national emergency management agency official confirmed they had only been made aware of the changes after the threshold had already been changed.

“The agency found out after the fact. So we weren’t aware at the time of releasing or agreeing that the funds would be released to the NSW government,” the official said.

“My understanding is that the decision to finalise projects also had to go through the NSW cabinet process.

“And so what we were aware was that there was a decision made in the context of NSW securing their funding through their ERC process. But that was not provided to us.”

Federal Labor MP Susan Templeman, whose electorate of Macquarie encompasses the Blue Mountains, on Tuesday described the revelation as “disturbing”.

She recalled how the Liberal side of her electorate – represented by a coalition state MP – had received millions in grants, while the state Labor side had received “not a cent”.

“The community could not understand why this was happening, when they’d spent months surrounded by smoke,” Ms Templeman said.

“Dominic Perrottet was at the core of those decisions, and it is profoundly heartbreaking for the business community which has since struggled with Covid and with downturn in tourism.

“Who, even now, three years on are wondering how they’re going to survive.

“The NSW Liberal National Government … are responsible for so much of the pain that’s being felt by our Blue Mountains local economy right now.”