Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to strongly support the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Amendment (Improved Grants Reporting) Bill 2021, and I commend Senator Gallagher for her work in holding the government to account in this outrageous rorting of public funds for political gain. Having recently arrived in the Senate, I've been shocked at the lack of transparency and accountability of the Morrison-Joyce government. It isn't just that transparency isn't a priority for them; they are actively seeking to hide documents and shield their decisions from the public's view. So I support this bill as a step to hold the government to account and to get some accountability even where the current government doesn't want it.

As other speakers have highlighted, this bill amends the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act to bring together the grant rules and guidelines currently found in other legislation and to tighten the time frames around these requirements. It's probably worth referring here to Senator O'Sullivan's commentary about the timing. The current requirements are that it's 12 months before grants need to be reported, and that's one of the key things that this bill seeks to change—to bring that forward, so we're not waiting 12 months for that level of accountability and transparency. Specifically, this bill would require the finance minister to report to the parliament when ministers have approved projects against the advice of their departments or within their own electorates, and it would require this to happen in a much tighter time frame.

Grants are a critically important part of how a national government works, and it is important that the public can see exactly what is happening here and exactly where the money is going. So many community groups and sporting clubs rely on this type of funding to be able to keep their operations going or to fund much-needed infrastructure upgrades. I know that a great many South Australians will know of local sporting clubs that desperately need upgrades. They need a new pitch, better lighting, change rooms or other facilities to help their clubs thrive. The grants are vital for the larger-scale projects too, whether it's funding for research projects or for significant infrastructure works, like new roads, bridges, public transport and other required infrastructure. But, at the end of the day, these grants are taxpayer funded. People rightly expect that the government will spend public funds in a way that is transparent and accountable to them.

There are worthy and much-needed projects in just about every single corner of the country, and we accept that not every good project can be funded at the same time. But we need to be transparent and we need to understand what the evidence base is for each and every grant: What are the most urgent projects? What is the best bang? How are we funding these things? What is the rationale? The system should work in that manner—it should be accountable and transparent, and people in communities should be able to see that. But, under eight long years of this Liberal-National government, that is not what we are seeing. The Morrison-Joyce government continues to treat taxpayer funded grants like this as if they were part of a Liberal Party campaign account, splashing money on political priorities, not based on evidence and real community need. To counter another point that Senator O'Sullivan made: as for the particular grants that he was talking about, 34 per cent of those seats that were eligible do not sit within the LNP. That's 34 per cent—I hardly think that's negligible—and, of those seats, only 14 per cent received grants. That shows us very, very clearly how political these decisions are. The worst thing about this is that, when they are called out on it, the government just keep trying to hide the documents and the evidence from public view. They hide from any form of scrutiny and deflect any form of attention. That's exactly what this bill is trying to address and it's exactly why it's so badly needed.

One of the most outrageous examples that we have seen was the notorious sports rorts. This wasn't just a case of public funds being rorted. It actually had real consequences for the people and the communities across this country. We felt it keenly in South Australia. As a result of the $100 million sports rorts, worthy clubs across South Australia—clubs run by dedicated community members, like mums, dads, aunts, uncles, grannies and grandads, people who work very hard to make their local clubs as successful as they can be to give everyone an opportunity to participate in these important community activities—have been denied basic upgrades simply because they are not fortunate enough to be located in a Liberal target seat or a Liberal held seat.

In South Australia we've seen some amazing things occur, and I don't mean that in a good sense. We've seen the spectacle of failed candidate for Mayo Georgina Downer parading around Yankalilla with novelty cheques advertising the rorts. It's exceptional. It's unbelievable. Of the top 50 unsuccessful applicants nationwide, 12 were South Australian projects, and seven of those were in the top 15. These had all scored above 88 out of 100 in the Australian sports independent merit assessment process. However, all 12 of these deserving clubs were rejected by the Morrison government so that it could instead spend the taxpayer money pork-barrelling marginal seats in other states. Clubs with a huge demand for infrastructure, like the South Adelaide Football Club—home to back-to-back SANFLW premiers and also a highly successful SANFL side—missed out completely. Meanwhile, the Old Collegians Rugby Union Football Club, in the Liberal seat of Sturt, was awarded $500,000 for female change rooms, despite not having any female programs. They have no girls' or women's teams. McLaren Football Club, which scored 88 out of 100 on the Sport Australia merit criteria, was yet another club that missed out even though it exceeded those criteria. The club president at the time, Darren Lines, called on the PM to go and visit the club, speak to the women who needed these change facilities and explain to them why the merit system was totally ignored. The PM never turned up and never answered that question.

This was, simply, an outrageous slap in the face to local sporting communities that had worked so hard week in and week out to get their kids out in the field, on the court or on the track, and it didn't take long for the South Australia Liberal government to catch on. Fresh on the heels of Senator McKenzie's largesse to the Liberal marginal seats, we saw South Australian Liberals endow some of the exact same clubs with more funding—more rounds of sport rorts—just joining in. Of the Marshall Liberal government's Grassroots Football, Cricket and Netball Facility Program, just six out of 47 of the electorates that received money were Labor electorates. In June this year, just 22 out of 117 clubs to receive funding under three revised sports infrastructure funding streams were located in Labor electorates. Then, to stick the boot in further, the additional condition that has been brought in is one that totally slams any low-socioeconomic areas by now requiring a 50 per cent contribution, ensuring that only those clubs with more money, in more wealthy areas, actually have a chance to develop their sporting clubs.

But we know it's not just sports and it's not just those funds that have been rorted by the Morrison-Joyce government. Just last month we learnt about the mass rorting of the Building Better Regions Fund for much-needed projects in regional Australia. This $1.5 billion bucket of money has been there since 2018. It is money that was supposed to be spent on 'investment ready projects that provide economic and social benefits for regional and remote areas'—that's a direct quote. The Australian National Audit Office—not anyone else—has found that 55 per cent of these regional grants announced since 2018 have gone to projects in major cities. Let that sink in: 55 per cent of regional grants have gone to major cities. That's millions of dollars for projects in regions that are screaming out for support that has just been put across to the cities. Analysis has shown that some 90 per cent of the funds granted have gone to coalition-held or coalition-targeted seats. What is particularly galling about that regional money is the $10 million that went to a swimming pool in North Sydney that is right next to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. That is not regional by anyone's assessment. The claim that it's regional because some people from the country go and swim there is absolutely ridiculous.

Yet again, this government and this Prime Minister are using taxpayer funds like they're part of a Liberal Party campaign account. So, if you happen to live in a Labor seat that the coalition does not have it's eye on, tough luck! You are not going to get anything, regardless of need, and that is shameful. That is exactly what this bill seeks to stop. It's obvious for all of us to see that decisions are being made for political purposes, but still the Morrison-Joyce government does the same thing it always does—dig in, avoid responsibility, avoid any transparency and refuse to answer the questions of the Australian public. Something needs to change, and it's those people in regional and remote communities who are missing out most of all here. They're losing their chance of upgrades for their towns because of the Prime Minister's political objectives. I sincerely hope that, when the Australian National Audit Office releases its report into this issue next year, it is able to provide that transparency. There's a clear contrast here. Labor is on the side of those people in regional Australia and on the side of transparency and accountability. This bill is part of that. There may be a good reason for a minister to go against departmental advice or to fund a project in their own seat, but they should be upfront about that. They should be clear and transparent about the exact rationale for why it is happening. And they shouldn't be delaying or obfuscating. It should be timely.

But there is more work to do as well and we need to consider the steps beyond this bill. The legacy of this government's rorts and grants scandals has been an erosion in public confidence in government and government decision-making. The important work that grants can and should do is being totally undermined. A strong national anticorruption commission would be a powerful tool to restore public trust and hold government decision-makers to account. The government committed to this before the last election but has still been completely silent on it. Labor will deliver a strong, independent, transparent, national anticorruption commission and it is time for this government to do the same or just own up to the fact that they are not going to bother.

In closing, I reiterate my strong support for this bill; my strong support for accountability, transparency, trust in government decision-making and a fair go for the regions of this country and for all the community and sporting facilities in this country, not just the chosen few. What we've outlined are practical measures to bring transparency to the decisions on government grants—transparency that is currently sorely lacking. I urge all senators not just to support this bill but to continue the work of restoring trust in government and in government decision-making.