A contentious $100 million pre-election cash splash by the Federal Government was focused on marginal and target seats, the auditor-general says in a report raising the prospect the entire scheme was illegal.
A contentious $100 million pre-election cash splash by the Federal Government was focused on marginal and target seats.The Government spent $100 million on grants for the Community Sport Infrastructure Program in the months leading up to the election
Labor sport spokesperson Senator Don Farrell said the report revealed"industrial-scale pork barrelling"."They thought they could get away with all this pork barrelling, save a few extra seats, and it's come back to bite them in a very big way." "The award of funding reflected the approach documented by the minister's office of focusing on 'marginal' electorates held by the Coalition as well as those electorates held by other parties or independent members that were to be 'targeted' by the Coalition at the 2019 election," the report stated.
A spokesperson for Senator McKenzie said the program was"very popular" and all recipients were eligible. However the report declared advice about assessing the applications was inconsistent with the guidelines.
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