Complete Phil Gaetjens report into sports rorts scandal released under FOI laws
A secret report by the former Coalition government into the sports rorts scandal slammed the decision-making process behind the grants scheme and its “lack of transparency”.
The investigation by former prime minister and cabinet department secretary Phil Gaetjens also found there were significant shortcomings when Coalition senator Bridget McKenzie awarded a community sporting grant to a gun club she was a member of.
Documents released under freedom of information reveal Gaetjens found there was a lack of transparency for applicants regarding how grant money would be allocated.
“This lack of transparency coupled with the significant divergences between projects recommended by Sport Australia and those approved by the minister has given rise to concerns about the decision making,” the report states.
“Those submitting grant funding applications had, in my view, a right to more fully understand the basis on which the funding decisions were being made.”
McKenzie resigned from cabinet in early 2020 after Gaetjens finished the investigation. A summary of the Gaetjens report was published at the time but the full investigation was not released on the basis that it was a confidential cabinet document.
The complete investigation has now been released after the FOI commissioner ordered the prime minister’s department to make it public.
The investigation was launched after a damning auditor general’s report found former sports minister McKenzie’s office overlooked sporting grant applications of merit in favour of those in marginal electorates.
Gaetjens, however, said in his report there was no evidence of pork barrelling. “I can find no basis for the suggestion that political considerations were the primary determining factor in the minister’s decision to approve the grants,” the report states.
The investigation did find McKenzie breached ministerial standards by not declaring she was a member of the Wangaratta Clay Target Club which received a grant of $36,000.
The investigation was scathing of the discrepancy between the grants approved and those in the final list of recommended projects by Sport Australia.
“I cannot reconcile such large variations in the final approval results compared to recommendations based on the published assessment criteria with the minister’s view that the published assessment criteria were the ‘key decision factor’”, the report said.
“I find that other factors had a material impact on the minister’s final approvals being different from Sport Australia’s own recommendations.”
The investigation noted there was no evidence to support the grants being applied systematically.
“Where the minister was the final approver and approvals departed materially from official recommendations ... I am concerned there is no evidence of the reasons that supported the minister’s final approvals,” the report states.
However, Gaetjens found McKenzie did not breach ministerial standards by using discretionary powers as a minister.