Bridget McKenzie sports rorts
Senator Bridget McKenzie (Image: AAP/Peter Rae)

We’re living through a golden age of government rorting. The latest, a $660 million slush fund where money to build commuter car parks was funnelled into Liberal-held and marginal electorates ahead of the last election, barely made a ripple in a day dominated by lockdowns and the botched vaccine rollout.

The car park fund dwarfs sports rorts, revealed by the auditor-general last year. And it’s the latest in a very long list of slush funds, misdirected grants and pork-barrels, many of which are now forgotten. Here’s a quick run-through.

Sports rorts

This was the one that cut through. As sports minister, former Nationals Deputy Leader Bridget McKenzie presided over the $100 million community sport infrastructure program which funnelled money away from recommended projects to ones in marginal and Coalition-held seats ahead of the election.

McKenzie was ultimately forced to resign over an undeclared conflict of interest, taking the heat off Prime Minister Scott Morrison despite serious questions about his office’s involvement. McKenzie is the only Coalition minister to face a consequence, but she’s now back where she started.

Safer communities program

Presiding over grants for community safety, then home affairs minister Peter Dutton took funds from projects recommended by his department and gave them to ones on his own list. He also intervened to fund two local councils in Tasmania before they’d been assessed — ahead of the crucial 2018 Braddon byelection. The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is investigating further.

As a bonus, his assistant minister Jason Wood was recently under fire for diverting $31 million to preferred projects in a later round of the program.

Building Better Regions Fund

A regional infrastructure program run by former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack handed out $201.8 million in grants ahead of the 2019 election. But analysis in the Nine newspapers found 156 of 166 projects went to Coalition-held or -targeted seats. The ANAO’s investigation is ongoing.

Female Facilities and Water Safety Stream Program

A massive $150 million fund to build female swimming pool change rooms was overwhelmingly spent on Coalition seats or marginals, despite assurances from McCormack that the program wouldn’t be used in the campaign. All up, 40% of the funding went to two seats:- Pearce, held by Christian Porter, and Corangamite, where Liberal Sarah Henderson narrowly lost. Embattled Liberal MP Andrew Laming also managed to get a $550,000 grant to a rugby club linked to one of his staffers. The ANAO declined to conduct a full audit, pointing to “other competing priorities for audit coverage”.

The Leppington Triangle

The government pays $27.6 million for land to build a runway for Sydney’s second airport. The land is worth a tenth of that and will not be used until after 2050. The land is owned by a pair of very rich dairy farmers who are Liberal Party donors. Paul Fletcher, the relevant minister, blamed his department for not making the call. But at the time he’d described the decision to buy the land at that price as “perfectly sensible”.

NSW councils

Of course it’s not just the federal government. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian greenlit more than $100 million in council grants in Coalition electorates ahead of the last election. A recent NSW upper house inquiry found the program was designed to pork-barrel and win seats.

Are you outraged by politicians rorting the system? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name if you’d like to be considered for publication.