Pork-barrelling may be legally a grey area, but it is not good government and its normalisation undermines democracy, the think tank says.
All government grants should be open and competitive and ministers banned from choosing winners, the Grattan Institute has recommended after releasing analysis showing widespread bias in favour of government-held and marginal electorates.
Pork-barrelling is not new but is being normalised, according to Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood.Grattan said the worst offender was the NSW Stronger Communities Fund, where $227 million or 90 per cent of the total $252 million in funding went to NSW Coalition seats.
Grattan also observed that grant moneys typically “fly out the door” as elections approach. It noted that almost all grants from the Building Better Regions Fund in 2018 and 2019 were approved just before key federal elections.“It wastes taxpayers’ money, undermines public trust in our political leaders and institutions, and promotes a corrupt culture.“Pork-barrelling is not new but is being normalised – some politicians now excuse it or even openly defend it.
Ms Wood said while ministers should be able to establish grant programs and define the selection criteria they should not be involved in choosing who receives grants.“A high degree of ministerial discretion is a consistent feature of grant programs where pork-barrelling occurs,” the report noted The state government accepted an overhaul of the system including much greater transparency and oversight and with ministers required to document why they chose to differ from their officials recommendations.The Grattan report found that while the current rules looked good on paper, they were ineffective in practice because they were largely unenforceable.
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