House debates Questions without Notice

Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program

Thursday, 14 May 2020 House of Representatives

Richard Marles

Richard Marles Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence

3:04 pm

My question is again to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's earlier answer, such as it was. Why did the Prime Minister's office want sports rorts grants sent to the coalition's campaign headquarters? Is there any aspect of this program that wasn't rorted?

Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister

I can only assist the member by referring to the many responses I've given to this matter. It was very clear that the authority for making the decisions on this matter was the minister for sport. Publicly released guidance clearly stated that the minister was the final decision-maker and could take into account many other issues. That's how the process was run. Today, we heard information released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that almost 600,000 Australians have lost their jobs. That's where my focus is. I will leave the Australian people—

Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister

leave it to their judgement to see where the opposition's focus is.