Sports grants scandal: rural areas received less than $10m of $150m funds allocated
Labor is accusing the government of shortchanging rural areas through a $150m sports fund that was overwhelmingly spent in marginal seats during the election campaign.
The $150m female facilities and water safety stream program, announced by the Coalition less than two months before the election, was funded in the 2019 budget for the purpose of female change rooms and swimming pool upgrades, but was all allocated in the election campaign.
An incoming government brief obtained by the Labor party through freedom of information laws shows that the fund was supposed to be targeted at regional and remote communities.
Related: Albanese calls on Phil Gaetjens to make sports grants report public
It was included in the budget under the regional development funding stream, but less than $10m of the $150m fund was allocated to projects in rural electorates, with just four electorates held by Nationals MPs successfully securing funds.
Projects in Liberal-held, non-rural seats got nearly $110m of the total four-year fund, with the key marginal seats of Pearce and Corangamite securing almost 40% of the total funding pool.
On Sunday, Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the Nationals had been “dudded” by the fund, which the opposition has called “sports rorts on steroids”.
“You have a $150m fund that was just siphoned off, siphoned off at 40% of it in two electorates … for essentially electioneering based upon marginal seats,” Albanese said.
“The problem with this government isn’t just that it is obsessed with fighting each other, fights between the Liberal and National parties, fights within the Liberal party, fights within the National party. The real problem is that it’s distracting them from actually governing the country, being concerned about the issues that are the everyday concerns of the Australian people.”
When asked why more of the money meant for regional Australia was not spent in regional Australia, Nationals leader and deputy prime minister Michael McCormack defended the government.
“Well, regional Australia doesn’t miss out under the Nationals being in government,” McCormack told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
Related: Michael McCormack dismisses claims he will stand down as Nationals leader
“Over a spread, you will see that regional Australia and metropolitan Australia all received fair and equitable funding when it comes to providing it,” he said.
He said that “in future rounds” regional Australia would get more than just 10%, despite the full $150m fund already being allocated.
Labor is continuing to pressure the government over its handling of grant funding in the lead-up to the election after former Nationals deputy, Bridget McKenzie, was forced to resign after a scathing auditor general report found a $100m sports fund was used to target marginal seats.
Last week, officials from the Australian National Audit Office gave evidence that some 43% of projects funded under the controversial program – 290 in total – were ineligible when agreements were signed.
The evidence from the ANAO to the Senate inquiry on Thursday contradicted a key defence of the program employed by Scott Morrison and the former sports minister, who had claimed that “no ineligible projects” were funded under the scheme.
