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Letter to Anthony Albanese 20 Jan 2023
Terms and Documents
Discussion Paper Annexure A
Annexure B
Articles
and Audit Reports that
Evidence
and Denounce
Pork-barrelling
and
Wasteful,
Reckless Major Infrastructure Projects
The following articles
are drawn from
Attachment A:
56.
There’s every reason politicians’ pork-barrelling should be made illegal -
The Age - 5 July 2021 - Tom
Rabe -
includes:
"There is a long history of such pork-barrelling by both sides of politics. The
most recent high-profile case involved Nationals senator Bridget
McKenzie. She approved $100 million in grants for community sporting facilities
shortly before the last election. The Auditor-General found that the senator’s
office ran a parallel selection process – focused, again unsurprisingly, on
marginal electorates – to the merit-based process run by Sport Australia."
"With the
Auditor-General and the parliamentary committee system in place to catch such
blatant abuses of taxpayer money for political advantage,
it has to be asked what more can be done
to dissuade politicians from misusing taxpayer funds."
But Australians are
rightly disgusted by this practice. The ABC’s recent Australia Talks survey
showed 77 per cent of us believe politicians should resign over pork-barrelling.
It is a practice by which politicians mis-spend public money for their own
private political benefit. The
Age is happy to call this for what it is: corruption. It should be
illegal and come under the purview of an
anti-corruption commission.
57. ‘It
could never have been built’: Labor pinpoints holes in the pork barrel
Tom
Cowie -
SMH -
July 3, 2021
"Last week the
Australian National Audit Office found that the federal government cash splash
was not
administered appropriately and
that there was no consultation with state governments and councils about where
the money was needed.
“What is particularly egregious ... is that the car park could never have been
built here,” said Andrew Giles, the federal opposition’s acting transport
spokesman.
Costs blow out on Coalition parking projects funded without full scoping
-
SMH -
Farrah Tomazin
July 1, 2021
“If [the federal
government] had bothered to speak to the council, speak to the local community,
or even to look at the very site that we’re on, they would have known there was
no way this promise could have been kept. They should have known that they were
telling ... a lie at the time of the election, they should come clean about it
now.”
The Audit
Office report noted
that just two out of the 47 car parks were completed. In March this year, the
federal government pulled the pin on $50 million in funding for five Melbourne
car parks, at Brighton Beach, Balaclava, Mitcham, Kananook and Seaford."
130.
A ‘cancer on our democracy’: How to fix Australia’s pork-barrelling crisis
-
SMH
-
Jessica Irvine
April 26,
2022
"Legislation should
require both major parties to submit complete lists of their election policy and
spending proposals to the
PBO prior to the start of the election
campaign. The PBO should publish
these lists – along with full costings – as soon as possible during the campaign
so that voters and journalists alike can thoroughly investigate and analyse the
proposals on offer.
Not only would voters be more informed, such a
process of public scrutiny – facilitated by the parliament – would drive the
development of better policy proposals in the first place – or, at least, ones less blatantly skewed
to marginal electorates."
143.
Bridget McKenzie's sport grant cash splash is a particularly brazen example of
pork-barrelling - ABC News -
David Speers - 16 Jan 2020
"There's no hiding what was going on
First is the
scale of ministerial intervention.
The Minister ignored the recommendations of
the independent experts at a far higher rate.
In round 3 of
this program, the auditor-general found "73 per cent of the approved projects
had not been recommended by Sport Australia".
Second is the frank
admission by the Minister's office of what went on. According to the
auditor-general, "the award of funding reflected the approach documented by the
Minister's Office of focusing on 'marginal' electorates held by the Coalition as
well as those electorates held by other parties or independent members that were
to be 'targeted' by the Coalition".
144.
Bridget McKenzie facing calls to quit after auditors condemn 'biased' sports
cash splash -
ABC News - 16 Jan 2020
145.
$100m sport grant scheme 'illegal' according to former senior government lawyer
– ABC News -
22 Nov 2019
·
A former senior government legal advisor claims the controversial sport
grant scheme is "illegal"
·
He argues the Sports Commission Act does not allow the minister to be
delegated the power to approve grants
Ian Cunliffe, who
worked for more than a decade in government (as a lawyer) and now advises a constitutional law
centre at the University of Melbourne, argues the Community Sport Infrastructure scheme "pretty clearly was illegal"
because the relevant legislation does not allow the minister to be given Sport
Australia's power to choose grants.
Upon hearing
this, Mr Cunliffe — with decades of providing advice establishing schemes and
applying for grants —
thought such an
arrangement was unusual.
Section 54 of the Sports Commission Act sets out to whom Sport Australia can
delegate its powers, such as choosing grants. The Sports Minister is not listed.
146.
Pork-barrelling is
unfair and wasteful. Here’s a plan to end it
The Conversation - Aug 22, 2022
"So how can we put a stop
to the seemingly irresistible temptation to roll out ever more grants?
Let’s
start with an open, competitive, merit-based process for allocating government
grants that establishes clear guardrails around ministerial discretion.
A better process for allocation and oversight of grants
Ministers should be able to establish
grant programs and define the selection criteria,
but they should not be involved in choosing grant recipients. Shortlisting and
selecting grant recipients is an administrative function for the relevant
department or agency.
A multi-party standing
parliamentary committee should oversee compliance and interrogate any minister
or public official who deviates from the rules. And funding for federal and
state auditors-general should be increased to enable wider and more frequent
auditing of grant programs.
A strong and
well-resourced integrity commission is the last line of defence against pork-barrelling.
Better processes and oversight should significantly reduce the opportunities and
incentives for governments to engage in pork-barrelling in the first place.
If pork-barrelling
continues, an integrity commission may choose to investigate. A recent
report from the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption
concluded that pork-barrelling “can under certain circumstances involve serious
breaches of public trust and conduct that amounts to corrupt conduct”.
Better processes and oversight of grant funding, alongside
the other recommendations in our New
Politics series of reports, would lay the foundations for a new way
of doing politics in Australia – one that safeguards the public interest from
political interests."
154.
"ICAC
finds pork barrelling could be corrupt, recommends grant funding guidelines be
subject to statutory regulation."
155.
Costs blow out on Coalition parking projects funded without full scoping
(SMH -
Farrah Tomazin
July 1, 2021) includes:
"In a scathing report this week, the Australian National Audit Office found
that projects under the $4.8 billion federal Urban Congestion Fund program had
been green-lighted by Prime Minister Scott Morrison the
day before he called the 2019 election, and the money mostly went to
Liberal-held or marginal seats.
The Auditor-General revealed that on the eve of the election the government
negotiated a deal with Maroondah Council to deliver the projects at a cost of
$15 million each. However, the government agreed to pay the council 70 per cent,
or $42 million, up front. The payment was made “prior to any of the four
projects being fully scoped”, the documents reveal, and the remainder of the
costs were to be paid on completion
“The approach taken by
the department in establishing delivery timelines and milestone payments did not
address the risks,” Mr Hehir said in his report. “Rather, 70 per cent of the
total Australian government funding committed to these projects was paid around
seven to 10 months in advance of the expected construction start dates.”
The payment plan is the latest example of dubious processes in administration of
the Urban Congestion Fund, in which the Coalition promised to build 47 commuter
car parks across Australia, including 29 in Victoria that had been announced
without consulting the state government."
156.
New politic's Preventing pork-barrelling - (Grattan institute - Aug 2022 -
Danielle Wood, Kate Griffiths, and Anika Stobart) provides summary points to -
Improve
the
grants
process;
Strengthen
oversight
of
public
spending; and
Make
grants administration
more
transparent.
159.
Pork barrelling can constitute corrupt conduct and could lead to criminal
charges, ICAC says – The Guardian -
Anne Davies
Mon 1 Aug 2022
"Pork barrelling – the practice of allocating
government grants for partisan political purposes – can constitute corrupt
conduct, the New
South Wales Independent Commission against Corruption has warned,
calling for much stricter rules on
grants.
In its report on pork barrelling in NSW, ICAC said
a minister could be engaging in corrupt conduct
and open to criminal charges if they engage in pork barrelling."
“In circumstances where pork barrelling is serious and willful, it may
constitute conduct so far below acceptable standards as to amount to an abuse of
the public’s trust in the office holder, such that criminal punishment is
warranted,” ICAC said.
163.
A battle to provide suburban railway station car parks has left taxpayers with a
$660 million bill and precious little extra parking - SMH - Shane Wright - 3
July 2021
"A few hours later, the Auditor-General’s office released its report into
the administration of commuter car park projects within the Urban Congestion
Fund, revealing huge problems in the $660 million program.
A nationwide program to reduce “congestion” across suburban Australia
managed to channel most of its cash into a handful of Liberal Party seats
that were more at risk of being won by Labor than overwhelmed by parked
cars.
That single report, plus others over recent months from the Auditor-General,
highlight the widening gap between the rhetoric of restrained spending and
the practices of the federal government."
164.
Factsheet: Pork Barrelling -
The
Institute
of
Internal
Auditors
-
Australia
- 2018
165.
$252 million fund designed to win seats and punish councils, inquiry finds
- SMH - Angus Thompson - 30 March 2021
"A $252 million grants fund handled by the Berejiklian government
was deliberately devised to accommodate pork-barrelling, punish councils who
objected to forced amalgamations, and win seats ahead of the 2019 state
election, an inquiry has found."
166.
Multibillion-dollar federal fund didn’t award money on merit, audit finds
- The Age - Tina Jacks - 28
June 2021
167.
What is the Bridget McKenzie scandal about?
Bridget McKenzie might have to quit
federal cabinet and her deputy leadership of the Nationals over her handling of
a sports grants program. Here's why.
168.
The Regulation of Pork Barrelling in Australia - Susanna Connolly -
BA/LLB (Hons), TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
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