Labor moves on car park rorts, but government uses same line of defence: the people voted for us, didn’t they?

Labor introduced an anti-rorting bill in the Senate Wednesday, hours after Education Minister Alan Tudge finally faced media questions about his role overseeing a multimillion-dollar infrastructure program that funnelled money to Coalition-held seats. 

Opposition finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher introduced a private senator’s bill which would compel any minister who approves grants that have already been rejected by their departments, or which would see money sent to their own electorates, to provide written justification to the finance minister. Their reasons would need to be tabled in Parliament within five sitting days. 

“Labor’s bill will improve the transparency and accountability of ministerial decisions within these grant programs that Scott Morrison is addicted to rorting,” Gallagher said. 

It comes more than a month after a damning auditor-general’s report laid bare the government’s pre-election rorting of the Urban Congestion Fund’s (UCF) commuter car park program, where 87% of funding went to projects in Coalition-held seats or target seats.

At a spillover Senate estimates hearing two weeks ago, Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) deputy director Brian Boyd confirmed staffers in then-infrastructure minister Tudge’s office had drawn up a list of top 20 marginal seats. Together with a staffer at the Prime Minister’s Office, they’d canvassed MPs, duty senators and Liberal candidates in those electorates for their thoughts on what they wanted funded. It was that process that led to a $660 million UCF slush fund. 

In addition to the bill, Gallagher also moved an ultimately unsuccessful motion compelling production of documents listing the top-20 marginal seats.

At a press conference yesterday, his first in weeks, Tudge said he was “not aware” of the top-20 marginal seat list, and said the spending was lawful.

“We took those to the Australian people and the Australian people voted for it,” Tudge said, repeating a line Liberal ministers have consistently used to defend instances of pork-barrelling.

Tudge, one of the Morrison cabinet’s serial under-performers and perennial gaffe-magnets, had not spoken to media about the UCF since the ANAO report dropped. He was last seen hurrying down the corridors of Parliament to escape a volley of questions from a Nine reporter.

“This morning we saw Alan Tudge run away from questions — well, Minister Tudge can run, but he can’t hide from accountability,” Shadow minister for Cities and Urban Infrastructure Andrew Giles said. 

Facing a barrage in question time yesterday, Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher didn’t address the top-20 marginals list but said the program was all good because Tudge had ministerial authority.

“I’ll tell you who made the decision: the minister of the day made the decision. And the minister of the day had authority. This is the key point. The auditor-general’s report does not contest that the minister of the day had authority,” Fletcher said.

Labor’s bill is an attempt to put more pressure on a government which continues to shrug off numerous well-documented cases of improper spending. 

But it could also be all a bit of showmanship. While key crossbench senators like Rex Patrick and Jacqui Lambie have frequently attacked the government over misuse of taxpayer money, the Coalition has a majority in the lower house. 

Labor is pushing hard on the issue. But it’s up against a government that seems assured it won’t face any real consequences for pork-barrelling.