Pork-barrelling - Blatant instances of targeting marginal seats
 

Below are extracts from The Regulation of Pork Barrelling in Australia Susanna Connolly - University of Queensland:

Types of Pork

The ‘pork’ distributed to targeted electors by politicians can take many forms. The pork may be infrastructure projects such as the construction of a hospital or school, the relocation of a statutory agency into an electorate, or the promise of jobs in the lucrative construction of submarines. However, a particularly prevalent form of pork barrelling is achieved through the administration of discretionary grant programs. Such programs tend to be regional in nature and provide Ministers with discretion in determining which applicants receive grant funding. Grants are also a significant aspect of government spending, with billions of dollars of public funds distributed via Commonwealth grants each year. For these reasons, discretionary grants are an ideal vehicle for delivering pork. In fact, discretionary grants are almost synonymous with allegations of pork barrelling and overt partisan influence in the allocation of public resources. Therefore, when examining the regulation of pork barrelling in Australia, this paper will focus on the use of such grants, and the regulation of the administration of grants programs.
 

Sports Rorts 1.0: ALP and Ros Kelly

In 1993, the Labor government was embroiled in the original sports rorts affair for its administration of a $60 million Community Recreational and Sporting Facilities Grants Program.34 The Minister responsible, Ros Kelly, famously used a whiteboard to record the grant assessment process. The timing of the program prompted initial suspicion, with allocations coinciding with federal elections. Central in the ventilation of the scandal was a critical report by the Auditor-General that found the administration of the program was weak.36 The report noted discrepancies in the distribution of grants, but was unable to make a finding in relation to partisan bias due to the inadequate decision-making records. As is typical in pork barrelling scandals, Ros Kelly defended the disproportionate distribution of funding to Labor held seats as reflecting socio-economic needs rather than partisanship. However, a subsequent statistical analysis found strong support that the allocation was based primarily on partisan rather than socio-economic considerations.39 Following almost a month of controversy, the scandal ultimately concluded with Ros Kelly’s resignation as Minister. However, Kelly maintained her denial of any wrongdoing and insisted there was no proof of political bias or corruption in the administration of the program.
 

Sports Rorts 2.0: LNP and Bridget McKenzie

In 2019, allegations emerged that the Coalition Government had been involved in a remarkably similar sports rorts affair involving the administration of over $100 million in grants. Suspicions were again raised by the proximity of the grants administration to a federal election, coupled with a Liberal candidate handing over a giant novelty cheque while campaigning in the key seat of Mayo.42 Again, an Auditor-General report was pivotal in providing legitimacy to the pork barrelling allegations. The Auditor-General’s report concluded that the award of grant funding was not informed by an appropriate assessment process and the successful applicants were not those who had been assessed as most meritorious.43 Instead, the Auditor-General found evidence of distribution bias, with applications from marginal and targeted electorates receiving more funding than if a merit-based approach had been followed.44 Rather than a whiteboard, the Minister’s office used a colour-coded spreadsheet that recorded the analysis of electorate status, including marginal and targeted electorates.45 The second sports rorts scandal was particularly controversial as 43% of approved grant applications were in fact ineligible to receive funding.46 Further, the lawfulness of the Minister’s involvement in the allocation of the grants was questioned, as there was no apparent lawful authority for her interference in Sport Australia’s administration of the program.47 Finally, it was later revealed that the Minister sent a final list of projects for approval to Sports Australia after the election had been called and the Government had shifted to a caretaker role, which traditionally requires avoiding any unnecessary major expenditure decisions.48 The second sports rorts affair gained significant traction with political commentators. Anthony Whealy QC, a former judge and current chairperson of the Centre for Public Integrity, commented that the conduct was a ‘clear case of corrupt conduct by any reasonable standard’.49 Again, after a protracted controversy, the Minister responsible resigned. However, like Ros Kelly, Bridget McKenzie maintained there was no impropriety in the distribution of the grants. McKenzie in fact alleged she engaged in ‘reverse pork barrelling’ to ensure the fairer distribution of grants.50 Her eventual resignation (from Cabinet) was on the narrower conflict of interest ground of failing to declare her membership to a club that received funding.51 Notably, there has been no admission by the Government of pork barrelling, let alone improper distribution of public funds for partisan purposes.  

Following a Nationals leadership spill in July 2021, in which Barnaby Joyce replaced Michael McCormack as party leader and Deputy Prime Minister, McKenzie was returned to Cabinet, and appointed as Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience and Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education. She remained in these ministerial positions until the Coalition lost the 2022 federal election in May 2022.