Extract from ABC News
Cabinet Minister Alan Tudge's office kept a "top 20 marginals" tracking sheet for awarding projects from a $660 million commuter car park fund to marginal seats the Coalition wanted to keep or win in the 2019 election, the auditor-general says.
Key points:
- 47 carparks were funded in a $660 million project deemed to be "not effective" and not merit based
- Auditors have told a Senate committee the car park projects were chosen by Coalition MPs and candidates in marginal electorates
- Then-urban infrastructure minister Alan Tudge's office kept a "top 20 marginals" spreadsheet to track projects as it canvassed MPs
Last month the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) found a $660 million fund to build 47 commuter car parks was not "merit based", and none of the approved car parks had been proposed by the Department of Infrastructure.
"The distribution of projects selected reflected the geographic and political profile of those given the opportunity by the government to identify candidates for funding consideration," auditor-general Grant Hehir said.
ANAO auditor Brian Boyd told a Senate committee today that projects were identified by canvassing Coalition MPs and candidates from late 2018 to April 2019, something managed through then-urban infrastructure minister Alan Tudge's office.
"It started being initially termed as being 'top 20 marginals' … to touch base with the top 20 marginal [representatives] — either the member of the House of Representatives, the duty senator, or [their offices] — to ask them what projects in your electorate are worthy of being put through this program?" Mr Boyd said.
He said Coaliton candidates in marginal seats identified by the Coalition were also asked for possible car park projects.
"In some cases, the evidence shows the local member or duty senator was actually engaging with the [Prime Minister's Office], who would then pass it onto the Minister's office," Mr Boyd said.
47 car parks identified by Coalition MPs and candidates
Ultimately,
29 Coalition-held or marginal electorates were canvassed through what
Mr Boyd called the office of Minister Tudge's "to-do list" of car park
proposals.
Mr Boyd noted that unlike the sports grants program, which used a colour-coded spreadsheet to highlight the party affiliations of locations of public grant applications, the car park program was not a public process.
He said the Department of Infrastructure, and not any minister's office, had advised against an open, competitive process.
Thirty-eight of the car parks were determined "by the written agreement of the Prime Minister to a written request from ministers" and seven others announced as election commitments, the ANAO found.
"The Prime Minister would ultimately write back to either Minister Tudge, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Finance Minister or Treasurer saying, 'I've agreed to these projects being included,' but he was doing that on the basis of having received letters from [ministers]," Mr Boyd said.
He said there was no evidence Prime Minister Scott Morrison was personally involved in the canvassing for car park proposals.
The ANAO confirmed to the committee the entire $4.8 billion Urban Congestion Fund, which the car park fund sits within, lacked transparency and competitiveness.
The Department of Infrastructure is expected to speak to the committee later today.
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