4 years ago
PRIME MINISTER’S ROLE IN SPORTS RORTS SCANDAL REVEALED
SENATOR DON FARRELL
New evidence on the Sports Rorts scandal reveals Scott Morrison is misleading Australians and the Parliament about his role in the infamous pork-barrelling scheme.
At Senate Estimates in March, Labor questioned the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on 136 emails about the scheme between the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the office of the then Minister for Sport, Senator Bridget McKenzie.
Responses from the ANAO to those questions reveal that on the eve of the 2019 election the PMO told the Minister’s office that the Minister had to write to the PM to seek his ‘authority’ for Round 3 grants under the Community Sport Infrastructure Grants program.
New details also reveal that “February advice from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Minister’s Office was that the Prime Minister had not had a chance to look at the list” of proposed grants in Round 2.
The evidence is clear – Scott Morrison himself wanted to see lists of proposed grants and insisting on having the final authority on which projects were awarded grants.
This completely contradicts the PM’s claims in the Parliament that he was “not the decision-maker in relation to the program” and that his office just “provided information based on the representations made to us”.
If Scott Morrison was not making the decisions:
At Senate Estimates in March, Labor questioned the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on 136 emails about the scheme between the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the office of the then Minister for Sport, Senator Bridget McKenzie.
Responses from the ANAO to those questions reveal that on the eve of the 2019 election the PMO told the Minister’s office that the Minister had to write to the PM to seek his ‘authority’ for Round 3 grants under the Community Sport Infrastructure Grants program.
New details also reveal that “February advice from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Minister’s Office was that the Prime Minister had not had a chance to look at the list” of proposed grants in Round 2.
The evidence is clear – Scott Morrison himself wanted to see lists of proposed grants and insisting on having the final authority on which projects were awarded grants.
This completely contradicts the PM’s claims in the Parliament that he was “not the decision-maker in relation to the program” and that his office just “provided information based on the representations made to us”.
If Scott Morrison was not making the decisions:
- Why was he looking at lists of proposed grants for rounds two and three?
- Why did his office request a list of unfunded projects, with scores as low as 60/100 on merit from Sport Australia?
- Why did the PMO insist that the Minister seek the PM’s ‘authority’?
- Why did the PMO share information with Coalition Campaign HQ before non-Government MPs were informed of successful grants in their electorates?
Scott Morrison, his office, and the then Minister’s office turned a program meant to support community sport into one the Coalition used to spend $100 million of taxpayers’ money to win votes in marginal and target seats.
The Senate Select Committee on Administration of Sports Grants will continue to seek the truth about who masterminded this rort.
That is the very least the sporting clubs and communities dudded by the Morrison Government deserve.