Secrecy remains for grant recipients

DETAILS of the winners of $26m in state government business grants have been handed to parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

After a week of debate about the public release of the grant recipients, Small Business Minister Sarah Courtney said the list had been provided in confidence.

“The list as had been committed has been provided to the Public Accounts Committee, which is the appropriate scrutiny committee within government, so the details of over 20,000 grants have been provided,” she said.

“The advice from the Secretary of State Growth in not releasing these grants publicly pertained to the potential mental health impact but also on competitive factors that may come out of this.

“We don’t want to do anything that’s going to impact businesses even more, it’s been a really difficult time for them.”

Independent MP Madeleine Ogilvie joined calls for the information to be released in the name of transparency.

“The public always has a right to know how public revenue has been spent,” she said.

Labor’s David O’Byrne said he was convinced the information should be made public.

“Everyone understands the hardship that businesses have experienced as a consequence of the pandemic and the recession it’s caused, and there is no shame in seeking support,” Mr O’Byrne said.

“There is no excuse for Peter Gutwein to be anything other than candid with Tasmanian taxpayers and the public, who have a right to know how public funds are spent.”