National MP Michelle Landry has backed Bridget McKenzie to stay
Michelle Landry has backed Bridget McKenzie to survive the sports rorts scandal.
Nationals MP Michelle Landry has backed Bridget McKenzie to survive the sports rorts scandal and stay on as the party’s deputy leader amid a probe into her handling of a controversial community sports grants scheme.
Andrew Broad — the former Victorian MP for the seat of Mallee who stood down as a junior frontbencher in 2018 amid allegations over his personal conduct while travelling overseas — also backed Senator McKenzie.
The support for the embattled Nationals deputy came as Scott Morrison faced new warnings on Sunday that he could be forced to ram through legislation to approve grants already handed out under the sport infrastructure scheme after parliament resumed on February 4.
Senator McKenzie is standing firm amid pressure to resign over the scandal while the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Philip Gaetjens, conducts an inquiry into her handling of the program, which is expected to be handed down within days.
Senator McKenzie told colleagues over the long weekend that she believed she did nothing wrong.
The community sports grants scheme was found by the Australian National Audit Office to be biased towards marginal seats and electorates targeted by the Coalition before the May poll.
Some Nationals MPs are frustrated that Senator McKenzie has not stepped down amid uncertainty over the outcome of the Gaetjens inquiry into whether she breached ministerial standards and an alleged conflict of interest over her membership of the Wangaratta clay target club, which received $35,980 in funding under the program.
Ms Landry, the Assistant Minister for Children and Families, said she thought Senator McKenzie would “remain as our deputy leader” and spoke to her on Saturday.
“She has the support of the Nationals partyroom,” Ms Landry told The Australian. “I don’t think anyone wants to make any changes. I believe that she will remain in that position.
“Bridget has said that she has done everything above board and she feels confident that she will get through this.”
Mr Broad told The Australian it was important that ministers were able to have the final say on funding decisions instead of them being made by “Canberra-based public servants”.
“Otherwise many poorer rural councils and community groups who can’t afford fancy grant writers will miss out to those with greater resources,” he said.
Constitutional law expert at the University of Sydney, Anne Twomey, told The Australian that separate advice being prepared by the Australian Government Solicitor into whether Senator McKenzie had the legal standing to make funding decisions under the scheme could result in new legislation being pushed through the parliament.
“If the grants were unlawfully given, rather than requiring sporting clubs to hand the money back, it’s likely the commonwealth would legislate to approve the grants that have already been given,” she said.
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