Queensland election: Minister Mick de Brenni spruiked sport grants in own electorate
Mick de Brenni issued a personal newsletter in 2019 to spruik the new facilities received by clubs in his seat under a controversial sports grants scheme.
Under-fire Palaszczuk government Sports Minister Mick de Brenni issued a “special edition” of his personal newsletter in 2019 to spruik the new facilities received by clubs in his own electorate under a sports grants scheme.
The minister has weathered two days of calls to resign by the Liberal National Party opposition, which has accused him of “pork barrelling” after a report by the Queensland Audit Office found his intervention in the $15m Female Facilities Program in 2018 had strongly favoured Labor electorates.
The report found that of 2900 competitive sport grants handed out across five programs since 2017, the distribution across electorates based on political party was “mostly consistent” and Mr de Brenni interfered in just over 1 per cent. However, of 45 grants awarded in the Female Facilities Program, he made changes to 32 cases, awarding 18 grants and rejecting 14 eligible applications against the advice of his department. He did not provide written reasons for the changes and the department did not record them.
“The change in recommended grants resulted in grants awarded to Australian Labor Party electorates increasing from 44 to 68 per cent, while LNP electorates’ share of awarded grants decreased from 43 to 28 per cent,” the report found.
In a newsletter to his Springwood constituents in 2019, Mr de Brenni highlighted several grants he had awarded local clubs as Sports Minister.
Under the banner “Special Edition: Delivering first class sports facilities”, the newsletter detailed the Female Facilities Program funding for the Logan Lightning Football Club and Rochedale Tigers Rugby League Club.
It also spruiked grants delivered to other local clubs under different programs administered by Mr de Brenni.
Greens MP Michael Berkman on Wednesday said it appeared the minister’s interference had been for political gain. “Obviously Minister de Brenni has got a lot of questions to answer about what’s gone on behind the scenes there,” Mr Berkman said.
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