Building Better Regions Fund in doubt under Labor says Deputy PM
The Deputy PM has raised concerns Labor might scrap a program that has delivered more than $1 billion in support.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has predicted a Labor election victory will put in doubt a funding program that the federal government has been accused of using as a slush fund to hang on to Coalition-held regional seats.
Total investment in the Building Better Regions Fund has topped more than $1 billion since its inception, but Labor says the program has been repeatedly used for political purposes.
Mr Joyce raised concerns about Labor’s ongoing commitment to BBRF in Question Time this week ahead of round six applications for funding closing.
“It’s clear that under a sneaky Labor-Greens government the BBRF could cease to exist, stripping funding away from our regions and leaving regional towns and communities worse off,” he said.
“That’s because the Labor Party doesn’t care about the people, the towns, and the industries of regional Australia.
“Labor wants regional votes, but they don’t believe in regional people.
“Unlike the Labor Party, the Liberals and Nationals get the job done for regional Australia.”
BBRF is presently the subject of a probe by the Australian National Audit Office into whether funding allocated in earlier rounds was “effective and consistent” with grant rules and guidelines.
Findings are due in May when the federal election is also expected to be held.
Regional Development Shadow Minister and Member for Ballarat Catherine King said it “won’t take lectures” from a government Labor claimed had delivered 55 per cent of all “regional grants” to projects in major cities since 2018.
“I can 100 per cent guarantee that an Albanese Labor Government will maintain a regional grants program,” she said.
“What we will end is the Morrison-Joyce Government’s waste and rorts.
“Barnaby Joyce’s desperate attack tells us more about him than it does the Labor Party.
“Since 2018, the (BBRF) has delivered over 90 per cent of its funding to Coalition-held or targeted seats.
“So concerning is the rorting that the (ANAO) is looking into the entire program.”
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