Nationals minister pays price for rorts
A POLITICAL scalping has marked the start of the parliamentary year, as Nationals deputy leader Bridget Mckenzie fell on her sword after the damaging $100 million sports grant scandal.
Nationals were furiously making phone calls last night, jockeying for position to be deputy leader, ahead of a party room meeting tomorrow.
But they were not ruling out a broader leadership spill that could see Deputy Prime Minister Michael Mccormack in trouble.
Queenslanders David Littleproud and Matt Canavan are considered a strong chance of promotion in the wake of Senator Mckenzie’s resignation, as well as Victorian Darren Chester.
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Phil Gaetjens’s report found Senator Mckenzie breached ministerial standards by failing to declare a conflict of interest when granting $36,000 to a shooting club she had just joined.
But Mr Gaetjens, who is Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s former chief of staff, found there was no political bias in how the grants were handed out.
The ruling flies in the face of the independent Auditor-general’s report, which found there was a distributional bias in favour of marginal seats held or targeted by the Coalition.
But his report found a $36,000 grant to the Wangaratta Clay Target Club was in breach of standards.
It also revealed two further conflicts – grants given to the Northern Territory and Warrnambool branches of Field and Game Australia, where Senator Mckenzie held membership with the overarching body.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said it was “about time” Senator Mckenzie resigned.
“But this scandal is bigger than one minister, and we still need to get to the bottom of these tawdry sports rorts,” Mr Albanese said.
“This scandal characterises everything that’s wrong with this Government – one that is all about its own interests and not the national interest.”