Funds flow to seats
LIVING in a government-held state or federal seat more than doubles the chances of getting grant funding, a shocking new report investigating pork-barrelling in Australia has found.
Stronger oversight is needed to stop taxpayer dollars being used for pork-barrelling in marginal electorates leading to “poor-quality” projects going ahead over higher value ones, the Grattan Institute has recommended following a study released on Monday. The report catalogued “egregious examples” of Labor and Coalition federal and state grants for infrastructure to “reward” voters in government seats and “buy votes” in marginal electorates, at the expense of other “worthy projects”.
Analysis of the 19,000 grants allocated by the former Coalition federal government through 11 programs between 2017 and 2021, found $1.9bn went to Liberal or Nationals seats, compared with only $530m given to Labor ones. Grattan Institute chief executive Danielle Wood said that pork-barrelling might be “legally grey,” but it was “not good government”.
“It wastes taxpayers’ money, undermines public trust in our political leaders and institutions, and promotes a corrupt culture,” she said.
“Pork-barrelling is not new, but is being normalised – some politicians now excuse it or even openly defend it.”
Across a sample of programs in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, the Grattan Institute found government-held seats got more than $1m on average, compared with about $300,000 on average for opposition electorates.
In Queensland, ministerial discretion was used to make 32 changes to department recommendations in 2018 for a Female Facilities Program, resulting in an increased share of grants awarded to Labor government electorates at the expense of opposition seats.
The report also criticised the controversial $660m Commuter Car Park scheme run by the former Morrison government, noting successful recipients were “largely chosen by agreement between ministers and the prime minister” and appeared “politically driven”.
The institute recommended a “crackdown” on pork-barrelling, by ensuring grant programs were “open, competitive and merit based”. It recommended multi-party committees oversee compliance.