Labor leader Chris Minns has delivered on his promise to report Barilaro to ICAC

Former Deputy Premier John Barilaro has been referred to ICAC after he failed to explain why his office allegedly excluded Labor-held electorates from bushfire recovery grants.

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has held up his promise to refer John Barilaro’s office to the state’s corruption watchdog after a damning report found the former deputy premier excluded Labor-held seats from bushfire recovery grants.

Mr Minns gave the former Deputy Premier 24 hours on Friday to answer questions about why his office created new rules to fast-track part of the $100 million bushfire recovery program to Liberal electorates.

“Those grants and the circumstances around it have been referred to ICAC,” he told reporters on Saturday.

“That is important, those people who live in those communities that had Labor members of Parliament, that didn’t get those emergency grants need answers.

“I’ve never seen a government before politicise a natural disaster and I’ve never seen a set of circumstances where aid for a community in need was denied because of who they voted for at the last election.

“It should be a basic tenant in Australia that if you need help in the time of a disaster, and it makes no difference who you voted for.”

It follows the release of a NSW Auditor-General investigation into the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Program which found that Mr Barilaro’s office may have made decisions outside of its powers.

The NSW Auditor-General ground that John Barilaro’s office may have favoured Liberal electorates when allocating bushfire funds. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Ben Symons

The program was established after the devastating 2019 to 2020 Black Summer bushfires that claimed 26 lives and destroyed 2476 homes.

The report found that a $1m minimum threshold was applied by Mr Barilaro’s office “without a documented reason” and shortlisted projects were excluded “without a rationale being documented at the time”.

Meanwhile projects in Labor-held seats were denied prompting questions over whether project were fast-tracked based on electorate.

Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill said all 24 grant applications made by council, which totalled to $5.45m, were denied by the state government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese supported Mr Minn’s comments and said he could not comprehend the move by Mr Barilaro’s office.

NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns has referred John Barilaro to ICAC with the support of Prime Minister Albanese. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“It is beyond my comprehension that people would sit down with an electoral map to determine where funding should go for disaster relief,” he said.

“They’ve got no bounds of where they are prepared to cut off when it comes to pork-barreling.

“People who need support should be given it, it should not be politicised.”

“This report and this finding that the rules were changed to distort the funding of disaster relief is reprehensible and beyond contempt and that is a regard I have for anyone associated with this.”

The referral comes after Mr Minns told told 2GB radio host Ben Fordham on Friday he was giving Mr Barillaro 24 hours to respond.

“If we don’t get answers today, and I mean in the next 24 hours, I do believe it needs to be referred to the ICAC to determine what happened here,” he said on Friday.

“I think it’s a basic fact of Australian life that, if you’re in a disaster zone, and you need help from your own government, it will come – it doesn’t matter which party you voted for at the last election.”