Potato peelers and mini-golf enthusiasts among grant winners

Labor and Coalition MPs are milking a $22.5 million political slush fund to pork-barrel projects in electorates.

Labor MP Pat Conroy poses with constituents and a cheque for almost $20,000 in his federal seat of Shortland.

Labor and Coalition MPs are milking a $22.5 million political slush fund to pork-barrel projects in electorates, with Bill Shorten’s former waste watch spokesman Pat Conroy spending $22,000 on an 18-hole mini-golf course and Queensland Nationals MP Mich­elle Landry forking out more than $3000 on a potato peeler.

The mini-golf course and kitchen utensil were among thousands of community projects — including funding for dog parks, a Santa sleigh and town clock — hand-picked by federal MPs and approved under the Coalition’s Stronger Communities program.

Aimed at “improving local infra­structure” and delivering ­“essential community equipment”, the fund was used by MPs to pay for a $7500 children’s “water frog slide”, an $11,400 ­extension of a miniature railway track and dozens of mowers, laptops, barbecues, dishwashers, sports uniforms and croquet equipment.

The program was established by the Abbott government and continued by Malcolm Turnbull to provide each of the 150 federal MPs up to $150,000 annually to spend on small-scale community projects. Individual grants are ­between $2500 and $20,000.

Stronger Communities’ popularity has fluctuated, with 26 grants in the first half-year of ­operation in 2015, 3255 grants in 2016 — a federal election year — another 1987 grants last year and about 250 so far this year.

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Mr Conroy, Labor’s climate change and energy assistant spokesman who headed the party’s backbench waste watch committee for two years, defended his decision to give the Kahibah Bowling Club $22,000 for a mini-golf course. He said all grants for his electorate of Shortland were decided by a committee of “distinguished” community leaders.

The decision-making process was “thorough, systematic and objective”, he said. “The Kahibah bowls club application represented excellent value for money and was a great opportunity to build additional recreational facilities in the Kahibah area that is seeing significant growth in young­­ ­families without an accompanying increase in recreational ­infrastructure.”

Newcastle locals Melinda Roberts and Craig Smolen expressed frustration at not having the opportunity to voice their opinion on how the $22,000 would be spent to best serve their community.

“It is annoying there wasn’t any community consultation about how the taxpayer money would be spent,” Mr Smolen said.

“All our local parks have been demolished and we don’t have a skate park anywhere nearby, which our kids would have loved when they were younger.”

But the couple, who have lived in the Kahibah area for almost 30 years, said the new 18-hole mini-golf course, attached to their local bowling club, was a good addition to their local community.

Labor’s regional services spokesman Stephen Jones, whose shadow portfolio takes in the Stronger Communities program, conceded “at first blush” an 18-hole golf course “seems a bit suss”.

Mr Jones said the overall program had “merit” but Labor would review it after the next election if it formed government.

“We do see the benefit in having small-scale grants programs for community purposes, however you need to ensure all of the right probity measures are put in place,” he said.

Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm said the program was difficult to justify on a value-for-money basis.

Senator Leyonhjelm noted MPs already received a $100,000 communications allowance to tell constituents what they were doing to get re-elected.

“For every one (of the Stronger Communities projects) that’s re­inforcing democracy or values we would regard as substantial, there’s probably 99 that are all about getting re-elected,” he said.

Labor’s current waste watch spokesman Matt Keogh, the member for Burt in Western Australia, granted his local Lions Club $12,000 to purchase a second-hand ute and “build a reusable Santa sleigh to fit on the tray”.

Mr Keogh said the ute would be used for the club’s annual Santa sleigh run, moving its BBQ trailer for community sausage sizzles and transporting other equipment for various events, which represented “exceptional value as a com­monwealth contribution to our community”.

In the Prime Minister’s electorate, which has one of the highest number of Jewish voters in the country, the Jewish House in Bondi, a not-for-profit charity providing crisis intervention and prevention services, received $22,000 last year to install new perimeter fencing and a security system.

The money was delivered a year after Jewish House received two grants worth $30,600, also under the Stronger Communities program, for security and electrical upgrades to its centre.

Mr Turnbull’s spokesman said he ticked off on the grants because he believed women in crisis should be safe.

“We make no apology for protecting the victims of domestic ­violence in Wentworth,” he said.

Meals on Wheels in Rockhampton received a $3098 potato peeler from Ms Landry, who holds the marginal Queensland seat of Capricornia, to “enable volunteers to be freed up from peeling ­potatoes to engage in a wider range of activities for the service”.

Ms Landry said the mechanical potato peeler represented a “great investment and exceptional value for money”.

“Volunteers previously had to peel over 50 kilograms of potatoes per day. This investment has allowed these volunteers to produce more food, more efficiently, every day,” she said.

Applicants are required to provide matched funding towards the project, with the taxpayer-funded grants worth up to 50 per cent of overall costs.

The Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne’s longest community-run orchestra based in Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg’s inner-metropolitan electorate of Kooyong, received $5000 to purchase a Timpani drum and travel case to “enhance the quality of their performances”.

Labor MP Madeleine King’s West Australian electorate of Brand has a new enclosed dog park after the City of Rockingham was granted $20,000 so residents and their pets could exercise “in a safe environment to improve mental stimulation and socialisation”.

Regional Development Minister John McVeigh said projects ranged from upgrading community halls or sporting facilities to building new bike paths or providing essential equipment to the SES.

Applications for a fourth round of Stronger Communities funding opened last week but its future beyond this financial year is unclear.

Additional Reporting: Emily Ritchie