NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian directly approved more than $100 million in council grants in Coalition-held electorates before last year's state election, sparking a parliamentary inquiry over allegations of rorting.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian directly approved more than $100 million in council grants in Coalition-held electorates before last year's state election, sparking a parliamentary inquiry over allegations of rorting.show the NSW Stronger Communities Fund, originally set up by the Baird government to help merged councils, was used by the offices of the Premier and Deputy Premier John Barilaro to orchestrate funding announcements for seats across the state.
The emails were obtained by Greens MLC David Shoebridge under the upper house's "call for papers" powers. Mr Shoebridge said the NSW Parliament's Public Accountability Committee, of which he is the chair, had commenced an inquiry into allegations of grant rorting, accusing the government of avoiding due process.
"The decision to allocate the compensation money from the Stronger Communities Fund was made by the government," the spokesperson said. "While we are always happy to accept funding from the government, this grant was particularly strange. It was gifted to us months before a state election, to a council that had not been merged, at the request of Mr Dominello's cousin," Cr Laxale said.
A previous Greens analysis of the allotment of Stronger Communities Fund grants showed almost 80 per cent of the $250 million pool had been given to Coalition-held seats since 2017.
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