Inquiry sought into $1.35b Labor-linked grants

Indi MP Helen Haines has asked the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) to probe the process for the two invitation-only grant programs, in which nearly 90% of projects benefitted Labor electorates.

She has questioned whether the funding amounts to pork barrelling, while the government maintains it arose from legitimate election commitments.

The grant programs are known as “Investing in Our Communities” and “Priority Community Infrastructure”, and were budgeted for in October 2022 to fulfil election promises.

The five-year programs aim to fund community and sporting infrastructure and open space improvements and to build or upgrade infrastructure.

The guidelines state that only “organisations with projects identified by the Australian Government will be invited to submit an application form”.

Dr Haines drew on data from the GrantConnect portal to claim that of Labor’s 435 funding commitments through those programs, nearly 87% were in Labor seats, while only 51.7% of non-Labor seats won a grant.

Dr Haines expressed concern that the grants were “one-off, closed, non-competitive programs”, with eligibility tightly restricted to those invited to apply.

“When you put all of the information together – who received a grant, the application process, and the assessment process – we have to ask, does the process for determining recipients under these programs seem rigorous, objective, fair, equitable and responsible? Or is this just another example of pork barrelling?”

Dr Haines said she had raised her concerns directly with the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Catherine King.

“I met with the minister to outline my concerns and personally advise her that I would be writing to the ANAO to ask them to investigate the programs and the actions and decisions of the government.”

“The spending of taxpayer money should always be done fairly and transparently, with proper guidelines and selection criteria and awarded to recipients who objectively demonstrate merit,” she said.

Dr Haines raised the concerns before reintroducing her private End Pork Barrelling Bill.

“I am disappointed to say there has been very little action from the government [to stamp out pork-barrelling],” she told Parliament.

“All they have done are make some changes to Commonwealth Grants and Rules Principles – something the government proudly talks about whenever pork barrelling is raised. But these changes are just tinkering around the edges – they’re not in legislation. More than this lack of action, it is the practices of the Labor Party in opposition in the lead up to the 2022 election, and since then in government, that show just how just necessary and overdue these reforms are.”

Minister King defended the grant programs, telling Grants Management Intelligence, “The Albanese government is committed to ensuring fairness and transparency in the administration of funding programs.”

And she stood by its handling of the closed rounds.

“Election commitment programs, by their nature, are closed and non-competitive and designed to honour the commitments made during the election campaign,” King said.

“On coming into government, clear guidelines were developed and published to support the fulfilment of election commitments, and the projects underwent a rigorous merit assessment to determine eligibility under the program guidelines and to determine value for money. Projects that did not meet those requirements were not taken forward.

“As well as these programs, eligible organisations in every community in Australia are able to apply for a share of $1.5 billion made available by the Australian Government through four competitive funding programs designed to support community and economic infrastructure projects.

“These include the Growing Regions and Thriving Suburbs programs, and the regional and urban Precincts and Partnerships programs, with projects selected on merit in line with the published grant opportunity guidelines. The ANAO recently found the Growing Regions program to be designed and implemented effectively.”

More information

Dr Helen Haines’ speech to Parliament | Letter to the ANAO