More Liberal Party pork barreling to marginal seats, page-100

Sports grants scandal: rural areas received less than $10m of $150m funds allocated

Labor is accusing the government of shortchanging rural areas through a $150m sports fund that was overwhelmingly spent in marginal seats during the election campaign.

The $150m female facilities and water safety stream program, announced by the Coalition less than two months before the election, was funded in the 2019 budget for the purpose of female change rooms and swimming pool upgrades, but was all allocated in the election campaign.

An incoming government brief obtained by the Labor party through freedom of information laws shows that the fund was supposed to be targeted at regional and remote communities.

It was included in the budget under the regional development funding stream, but less than $10m of the $150m fund was allocated to projects in rural electorates, with just four electorates held by Nationals MPs successfully securing funds.

Projects in Liberal-held, non-rural seats got nearly $110m of the total four-year fund, with the key marginal seats of Pearce and Corangamite securing almost 40% of the total funding pool.

.....“You have a $150m fund that was just siphoned off, siphoned off at 40% of it in two electorates … for essentially electioneering based upon marginal seats,” Albanese said.

.....When asked why more of the money meant for regional Australia was not spent in regional Australia, Nationals leader and deputy prime minister Michael McCormack defended the government.

“Well, regional Australia doesn’t miss out under the Nationals being in government,” McCormack told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.

Over a spread, you will see that regional Australia and metropolitan Australia all received fair and equitable funding when it comes to providing it,” he said.

He said that “in future rounds” regional Australia would get more than just 10%, despite the full $150m fund already being allocated.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/16/sports-grants-scandal-rural-areas-received-less-than-10m-of-150m-funds-allocated