Bridget McKenzie sport grants a ‘clear case of political corruption’

Official says Bridget McKenzie’s handling of $100m sport grants is ‘a clear case of political corruption’.

Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

A Transparency International board member has branded Brid­get McKenzie’s handling of $100m in community sports grants as a “clear case of political corruption”.

As pressure continued to grow on Scott Morrison to take action over the controversy, AJ Brown, a professor of public policy and law at Griffith University and a member of both the Australian and global boards of leading anti-corruption body Transparency International, described the affair as an “outrageous waste of public resources and an outrageous betrayal of trust”.

Transparency International defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for personal, private or political gain, and Professor Brown said the affair was an example of the latter.

“Fundamentally, it is corruption. What has happened here is corruption,” he told The Weekend Australian. “This should be treated with the seriousness it warrants by the Prime Minister and the ­government.”

In an explosive report released by the Australian National Audit Office this week, Auditor-General Grant Hehir found the then-sports minister ignored recommendations by government agency Sport Australia on which applications to approve grants ­before last year’s election without ­apparent legal authority, favouring marginal and targeted seats.

Senator McKenzie has labelled calls for her resignation as “absolutely ridiculous”, arguing that “no rules were broken” and each of the 684 projects that received funding was eligible under the program’s guidelines.

Professor Brown said the fact all projects that received funding were eligible only meant the process was not fraudulent: “The claim that no rules were broken is meaningless when the ANAO ­itself is pointing out that part of the problem here was that the grants weren’t subject to the rules.”

Simon Longstaff, the executive director of The Ethics Centre in Sydney, described Senator McKenzie’s argument that no rules were broken as “ethically bereft” and said the scandal could also undermine Mr Morrison’s ability to enforce proper standards of ­integrity in other institutions, such as banks and unions.

“Do Senator McKenzie’s colleagues — including the Prime Minister — endorse this approach? If so, then let’s hope the whole nation laughs out loud the next time a Coalition minister ­attacks ‘union corruption’, throws a bank executive under the bus or invokes the concept of probity when criticising others,” he said.

As calls for the senator’s resignation continued to grow, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton ­defended his cabinet colleague and noted none of the clubs that received money had been found to be ineligible. “I’ve been in the parliament a little while, I can remember the years in opposition, the Labor minister, the Labor candidate, the Labor senator would come out and make announcements for funding within your local community. This is not anything new in that sense,” he said.

“We will look at the Auditor-General’s report, obviously.”

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said Senator McKenzie’s position was untenable. “This is outrageous behaviour by a government that believes it has a right to do whatever it likes, whenever it likes, wherever it likes,” he said.

Greens senator Janet Rice said the party would pursue the matter in Senate estimates in coming weeks, and would consider seeking Senate support for an inquiry.

“To ignore the merit-based ­assessment of Sports Australia for almost half of the successful ­applicants, and instead decide to award grants based on political gain is a clear and unforgivable misuse of taxpayers’ money,” Senator Rice said.