Sports rorts back on Anthony Albanese’s attack agenda

Anthony Albanese will try to revive the so-called sports rorts scandal when parliament returns this week.

Labor spent weeks pursuing Scott Morrison over the sports grants approvals, suggesting his office was involved in granting funds to community sports group in target election seats, before the coronavirus pandemic swept the scandal off the national agenda. Picture: AAP

Anthony Albanese will try to ­revive the so-called sports rorts scandal and go on the attack against Scott Morrison when parliament ­returns this week.

The Opposition Leader has vowed to pursue new testimony from the Australian National Audit Office that the Prime Minister’s Office asked to see a list of controversial sports grants approvals that ultimately cost then-sports minister Bridget McKenzie her cabinet spot.

More than 100 MPs will return to Canberra and brace for a more contestable sitting week than previous emergency sittings to deal with COVID-19.

Labor spent weeks pursuing Mr Morrison over the sports grants approvals, suggesting his office was involved in granting funds to community sports group in target election seats, before the coronavirus pandemic swept the scandal off the national agenda.

The opposition has now leapt on an ANAO statement to Senate estimates that emails between the Prime Minister’s Office and Senator McKenzie’s staff suggested “the Prime Minister had not had a chance to look at the list” the day before the second round of grants were announced.

Manager of opposition business Tony Burke said on Sunday that Labor had to continue to pursue Mr Morrison’s role in the saga to advocate for sports clubs who missed out on funding despite being eligible. “If you’re somebody who has been in a situation where you’re a sporting club, you thought you were in a fair situation and you’ve just found out now that the Prime Minister’s Office was in fact in charge of the final decision making on this, then you want the scrutiny of the parliament,” Mr Burke told ABC News. “Not only should we be doing that this week, we also should be adopting a proper sitting calendar. It’s ridiculous to have a situation where rugby league is going to playing and the Prime Minister’s saying that parliament can’t meet in the normal way.”

Mr Morrison’s spokesman said the PMO only asked for the list of approved sports grants as media announcements — not decisions on grants — had to be approved by Mr Morrison.

“As the ANAO confirmed, Senator McKenzie was the decision maker of the program,” the spokesman said.

“As is normal practice, ministers and their offices engage with the Prime Minister’s Office ­regarding the announcement of government programs.”

More MPs will come to parliament this week compared to ­recent post-coronavirus sittings, but Labor and the Coalition have agreed to up to 40 pairs for members who cannot attend. Parliament will remain closed to the general public and social distancing rules will be enforced.

The government’s main focus for the sitting week will be to pass privacy protections for users of the COVIDSafe contact tracing app.