The rorting of regional grants programs by the then federal government was so extensive that some councils simply gave up applying for them, a parliamentary committee has found.
Following a nine month inquiry, the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) has found “industrial scale rorting for blatantly partisan purposes” in the allocation of billions of dollars.
It found “clear evidence of serial non-compliance” with Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines (CGRGs) across multiple programs, saying the principles of fairness, competitive tender, transparency and value for money were simply disregarded.
The committee considered a number of major Commonwealth grants programs, including the Urban Congestion Fund, the Regional Growth Fund, the Safer Communities Program, the Commuter Car Park program, the Building Better Regions Fund and the Modern Manufacturing Initiative.
“The Committee was especially appalled to receive evidence that politicisation of regional grants programs corroded public trust to the point some councils stopped applying due to the belief they would never get a fair go,” Committee Chair Julian Hill said.
The Committee said the allocation of funds for the RGF was unacceptable, with 16 grants worth almost $261. 2 million going to Coalition seats, and just one grant worth $11 million going to a Labor seat the then government was trying to win.
… politicisation of regional grants programs corroded public trust to the point some councils stopped applying due to the belief they would never get a fair go.
JCPAA Committee
Mr Mr Hill says although grants guidelines were pretty clear and straight forward, “both the letter and spirit of the rules were routinely disregarded by ministers and officials”.
“Rorting grants programs in this way not only wastes money, but also degraded public trust,” the report says.
The committee was also critical of the use of centralised grants hubs which were used to administer more than 80,000 Commonwealth grants worth $30.9 billion in the previous financial year, saying they haven’t delivered the efficiencies and cost savings they were meant to.
The Committee recommends changes to commonwealth grants rules to ensure that competitive processes are used by default and election commitments are clearly defined.
It also calls for clarification of the roles of stakeholders, and for ministerial funding approvals made against agency recommendations to be clearly recorded and reported.
Mr Hill said the ramifications of the report were serious, and if implemented the recommendations would make a significant difference to the way grants are awarded across the commonwealth.
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