Extract from ABC News
Posted
When a leaked spreadsheet emerged this week, outrage around the Government's sports grant scheme reached a crescendo.
Clubs have demanded the Government respond and some have called for the minister in charge of the scheme, Bridget McKenzie, to resign or be stood down.But whether the minister goes or not, there's plenty more hidden in the spreadsheet about the scheme dubbed "dodgy" by the Opposition.
Cricket cashed in
The Auditor General's report noted "there was an undeclared and unmanaged conflict of interest involving a senior Sport Australia employee" with responsibilities for the program.Cricket-related grants received the most money, but others suggest the conflict may have been in relation to tennis.
The spreadsheet tags each application with one or more sports, delivering this cash leader board:
| Sport | Funding | Participants | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cricket | $37m | 495,700 | $76 |
| Football (Soccer) | $34m | 1,084,200 | $31 |
| Aussie rules | $30m | 587,900 | $50 |
| Netball | $26m | 615,400 | $42 |
| Fitness/Gym | $25m | 7,366,700 | $3 |
| Walking | $18m | 8,968,100 | $2 |
| Tennis | $17m | 918,200 | $18 |
| Touch Football | $17m | 353,900 | $47 |
| Athletics | $16m | 3,292,300 | $5 |
| Basketball | $13m | 753,700 | $17 |
| Rugby League | $12m | 172,600 | $71 |
In contrast, tennis was the only sport listed on 64 successful applications. The next most common single-sport grants were bowls (30) and football (21).
The largest tennis-only grant awarded was to Bellevue Heights Tennis Club infrastructure improvements, costing $373,000, in the Liberal marginal seat of Boothby in South Australia. Sport Australia gave this project a merit score 71.5 out of 100.
It's not clear why that project was funded instead of multi-sport projects like Hackham Football Club (scoring 74), the Barmera-Monash Football Club (76) or Woodville West Torrens Football Club (77) elsewhere in the state.
74 was identified by the Auditor-General as the score threshold that should have secured funding — if funding was awarded based on merit.
A Sport Australia spokesperson said "we don't believe any single sport received an unfair advantage".
"The overwhelming majority of successful applications for the Community Sport Infrastructure grants were for multi-sport, multipurpose facilities, benefiting numerous participation sports and the local communities."
Cost to keep people happy
Law firms hope to sign up clubs for class actions that would appeal the funding decisions in the courts and potentially challenge the Government's constitutional power to allocate grants to benefit political interests.
But there's still a chance of these projects receiving funding.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison indicated on Wednesday there were "many more worthy projects in this area" and pledged to work with the Treasurer to find more money.
Based on scores of approximately 2000 applications in the year-old spreadsheet, it would cost about $56 million to fund all unfunded projects with scores of 74 or more.
In reality, many of the projects that went unfunded have subsequently received cash through other programs, meaning much less than $56 million would be needed.
Bowls, golf, shooting got lucky
Sporting bodies, reliant on handouts, don't often criticise the way the Government hands out its money.But there are growing frustrations that some sports might receive more favourable treatment than others.
Football Federation Australia board member Joseph Carrozzi tweeted in November that he wanted "a more equitable and participant based allocation" of Government funding generally.
The leaked spreadsheet shows some sports secured grants even though applications were generally of lower quality than others.
Grants associated with the larger sports received average scores in the mid-to-low 70s.
Bowls, golf, "dancesport" and shooting received relatively low scores given how many successful applications they obtained.
Roller sports, weightlifting and skateboarding lost out
Applying the same approach to the unfunded applications shows rejected applications scored 57 on average.But there were outliers.
The unsuccessful applications of some sports, particularly roller sports, weightlifting, skateboarding and pentathlon, scored highly.
These sports were perhaps penalised for having too many high-quality applications. All secured funding at a rate of at least one in three applications.
Soccer over rugby league in Cook
The Auditor-General's report noted "representations were received across the three rounds both directly and indirectly, including through the Prime Minister's Office".Addressing his office's involvement on Wednesday, Mr Morrison said "all we did was provide information based on the representations made to us as every prime minister has always done."
Lilli Pilli soccer club in his electorate of Cook received $200,000 for its 77-scoring application.
Of the five top scoring applications in Cook, three received funding, but two higher scores missed out.
| Score | Applicant | Project Title | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 77 | South Cronulla Bowling and Recreation club | Main bowling green surface refurbishment | $24,970 | Unfunded |
| 77 | Lilli Pilli Football Club Inc | Lilli Pilli Football Club Facilities Upgrade | $200,000 | 1 |
| 70 | Cronulla Seagulls FC | Cronulla Seagulls FC Clubhouse and Facilities Upgrade | $500,000 | Unfunded |
| 67 | St George and Sutherland Shire Giants Baseball Club Incorporated | Giants Changerooms and Ablutions | $42,500 | 3 |
| 59 | Sans Souci Football Club Inc | Sans Souci Football Club Amenities | $50,000 | 3 |
More questions to answer
The leaked spreadsheet was from December and does not include all the grants or all applications.The Auditor General's report stated that applications had closed in September 2018, but the Government still accepted some applications after this time and these applications were successful.
The Coolgardie Shire in Western Australia originally applied for $500,000 for the refurbishment of the Kambalda Aquatic Facility.
It was assessed and given a score of 92 but was rejected for funding in rounds one and two.
But then something unusual happened. It was asked to resubmit.
Photo:
Liberal MP Rick Wilson encouraged his local council to resubmit its application, even though applications were closed. (Supplied: Facebook)
Rick Wilson, the Liberal MP for the local O'Connor electorate, said he asked the Shire to resubmit its application for a lower amount.
"I suggested to them that they resubmit having looked at the pattern of what was going on and seeing that the projects that were asking for the $500,000," he told ABC Goldfields this week.
"Remembering there were 2000 applicants and if 60 applicants at 500,000 were approved then all the money would have been gone in one hit and 1940 applicants would have missed out.
"So I think the minister made a very sound judgement in deciding that it would be better to fund the smaller projects and spread the money and the benefit more widely."
Mr Wilson announced the $287,000 grant in April last year, saying at the time that "this investment in the Kambalda pool is one step closer to seeing the facility re-opened in time for summer".
The pool is still under construction. It was reported in October completion was delayed until March because the council decided to add more "bells and whistles".
—additional reporting by Rhiannon Stevens
Do you know more? Contact jack.snape@abc.net.au
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