‘Regional’ grants went to big cities

DAMNING new analysis from the Auditor-General has revealed more than half of the federal government grants for regional development were given to projects in major cities.

The Australian National Audit Office released a comprehensive report on Tuesday after examining more than 100,000 grants handed out between December 2017 and June 2021, worth a combined $60.2bn.

Of the more than $2.3bn allocated for regional development, 27 per cent – $624m – went to postcodes listed as major cities.

Another 37 per cent, or $860m, was handed to inner regional areas, while only 8 per cent, or $181m, went to remote or very remote postcodes.

The largest portion of taxpayer cash splashed by the Morrison government was handed out in the same financial year as the last federal election. In 2018-19, more than $22bn was spent in the year the Prime Minister called the national poll.

The analysis follows a similar scathing report from the Auditor-General earlier in the year, which found that $660m in grants was given to 20 marginal seats in the socalled carpark rorts scandal.

The ANAO found the process of choosing projects was “not demonstrably meritbased” and that the minister responsible at the time, Alan Tudge, kept a tracking list of the top 20 marginal seats to help choose where new carparks would be funded ahead of the 2019 election.

Mr Tudge, now the Education Minister, in August denied knowledge of the sheet.

ANAO auditor Brian Boyd told a Senate committee that Coalition MPs and candidates were canvassed for potential projects in the lead up to the campaign “It was to ask them, ‘What projects in your electorate do you think are worthy of being put through this program?’,” Mr Boyd said.

The audit office report found none of the 47 projects selected for funding was put forward by the Department of Infrastructure. Twenty-seven of those were approved the day before Mr Morrison called the election.