NSW ALP seats cut from bushfire funds list, Auditor-General finds

A $542m bushfire recovery fund lacked integrity and saw Labor electorates miss out after former deputy premier John Barilaro ­intervened, the NSW Auditor-General has found.

Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro. Picture: John Feder

A $542m bushfire recovery fund lacked integrity and saw Labor electorates miss out after former deputy premier John Barilaro ­intervened, the NSW Auditor-General has found.

The NSW Audit Office ­released a scathing report on Thursday after assessing the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery program, which was established after the 2019-20 Black Summer fires.

The 42-page report details how the Department of ­Regional NSW failed to established best-practice processes while documentation of decision-making was missing, with the report finding the administration process underpinning the BLER “lacked integrity” and “transparency”.

“The Department of ­Regional NSW did not effect­ively administer the fast-tracked stream of the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery program,” auditor-general Margaret Crawford concluded.

“The administration process lacked integrity, given it did not have sufficiently detailed guidelines, and the assessment process for projects lacked transparency and consistency.”

This included failing to assess 281 of 445 potential projects, and ignoring the advice of the Public Works advisory body despite the department seeking input. Ms Crawford found the department’s assessment process was “inconsistent, poorly documented and lacked transparency”.

Co-funded by the federal and state governments, the BLER program was designed to support job retention and creation, strengthen community resilience and reduce the impact of ­future natural disasters in areas impacted by bushfires.

The Audit Office said it was unclear why the department had included electorate details to Mr Barilaro’s office for 35 projects selected to be fast-tracked given it was “not intended to be relevant to the assessment process”.

Mr Barilaro’s implementation of an arbitrary $1m threshold late in the assessment process was found to be “without reasonable justification”. It ­resulted in the exclusion of nine projects in highly impacted areas, including all of those in Labor-held electorates, such as the Blue Mountains.

“The decision to apply the $1m minimum threshold ­resulted in the exclusion of all projects in electorates held by the Labor Party and resulted in 26 out of the remaining 27 projects being in Coalition-held electorates,” the report says.

Despite being NSW treasurer at the time the BLER was conceived, Premier Dominic Perrottet said he was unable to comment on why Mr Barilaro’s office had become so closely involved in the bushfire program.

“I haven’t seen that report. I’ll have to go through it,” he said.