Sports rort probe D-Day nears for Bridget McKenzie

Scott Morrison is expected to receive the findings of a probe into Bridget McKenzie’s handling of a sports grants scheme on Saturday.

Nationals deputy Bridget McKenzie.

Scott Morrison is expected to receive the findings of a probe into Bridget McKenzie’s handling of a scandal-plagued sporting grants scheme on Saturday, almost two weeks after he tasked his departmental secretary to investigate.

Senator McKenzie, the former sports minister, is under pressure to quit after the Auditor-General released a damning report finding that a community infrastructure grants program skewed funding decisions in favour of sporting clubs in marginal seats.

The inquiry of the Auditor-General, Grant Hehir, found Senator McKenzie ignored recom­men­­dations by Sport Australia about which funding applications to ­approve and suggested she may have acted without appropriate legal authority.

While Sport Australia’s ­initial checks weeded out non-­compliant applications, ensuring no ineligible groups were awarded funds, the report revealed Senator McKenzie’s office conducted a parallel assessment process to ­approve projects.

As part of the probe, Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Philip Gaetjens has scrutinised a $36,000 grant Senator McKenzie gave to the Wangaratta Gun Club, of which she is a member.

Anthony Albanese on Friday renewed calls for Senator McKenzie to resign, saying the Gaetjens review was unnecessary because the Auditor-General had already condemned Senator McKenzie’s actions.

“This is a farce and it’s about time Bridget McKenzie resigned her position and if she won’t do that, the Prime Minister should sack her,” the Opposition Leader said. “The only thing that could be possibly holding that back is the direct involvement of the Prime Minister’s office in this tawdry rort that has seen legitimate sporting clubs miss out in favour of this political process.”

Mr Morrison has repeatedly insisted all projects were eligible and the program was not about delivering the Coalition an election victory. Since he ordered his department secretary to look into Senator McKenzie’s management of the scheme, further damaging revelations have come to light.

These include a March 2019 email that flagged Sport Australia’s concern at her management of the grant program and how her office administered the funds. The ABC also obtained a spreadsheet prepared by the minister’s office in 2018 with a colour-coded breakdown of what party held the seats where potential projects were based.