Bridget McKenzie quits, falling down on accountability

In accepting Senator McKenzie’s resignation, Mr Morrison has set the bar for his other ministers, demanding accountability and transparency in the handling of public money. Picture: News Regional Media

Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie had no alternative but to resign from cabinet as Agriculture Minister after Scott Morrison briefed her on the report into her conduct by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Phil Gaetjens. The report found Senator McKenzie breached ministerial standards by failing to disclose her membership of the Wangaratta Clay Target Club that was given $36,000 in the Community Sports Infrastructure Grants saga, when she was sports minister. The Prime Minister said the report found there were “also a number of other matters relating to another organisation’’. Senator McKenzie’s position had been under a cloud since the scandal broke, but Mr Morrison followed procedure by awaiting Mr Gaetjens’s report.

Mr Gaetjens found no fault with the way the grants were administered, although Mr Morrison conceded “there may be differing views about the fairness of the process’’. The minister, he said, used the discretion she was afforded. In mid-January, a damning report by the Australian National Audit Office found Senator McKenzie often ignored merit and favoured marginal Coalition seats and those targeted by the government before last year’s election. As a result, there was “distribution bias” in the awarding of 684 grants that was “not consistent with the ­assessed merit of applications”, the audit found. Such pork-barrelling of public money for political gain is unacceptable, as it was 26 years ago when former Labor minister Ros Kelly resigned when she was unable to explain the distribution of $30m of sports grants to marginal electorates. In that fiasco, the process was conducted on a whiteboard in the minister’s office and wiped off.

In accepting Senator McKenzie’s resignation, Mr Morrison has set the bar for his other ministers, demanding accountability and transparency in the handling of public money. John Howard lost six ministers in his first term, who fell short of his ministerial code of conduct — a turnover that ultimately strengthened his leadership. While the loss of his first minister is a setback for Mr Morrison, the government hopes Senator McKenzie’s departure will take some heat out of the issue by the time parliament resumes on Tuesday. While embarrassing for the government, the saga should not distract from more important issues of managing the economic fallout of the coronavirus, the fire recovery process and budget preparation. But it comes at a difficult time, when the ratings of the government and Mr Morrison have fallen in the polls, mainly over the handling of the bushfire emergency.

Senator McKenzie’s resignation as deputy Nationals leader has exacerbated the junior Coalition party’s political problems. The leadership is a matter for the parliamentary team. But with Mike McCormack proving a reticent leader, including in this controversy, the party needs a credible performer as deputy, especially in the bush. Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan should be a strong contender for the party’s Senate leadership.

By way of reform, the only upside from the scandal is the acceptance, as Josh Frydenberg said on ABC television on Sunday, of the Auditor-General’s advice that “things need to change’’. They do. In future, ministers administering such programs will be required to provide written explanations for their decisions, the Treasurer said, including any reasons they differed from the recommendations of bodies such as Sport Australia.