TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT – AUSTRALIA

$25bn in Coalition grants made through closed process with no competitors, report finds

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Original article by Sarah Martin
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 20-Oct-21

The Auditor-General has released a report which shows that the federal government spent $60.2bn via its GrantsConnect program between December 2017 and June 2021. A total of 108,206 grants were allocated over this period, and 42% were awarded via a non-competitive tender process. The report also shows that 27 per cent of grants that were earmarked for regional development programs were allocated to recipients with capital city postcodes; just eight per cent of the grants were awarded to remote or very remote areas.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL

National cabinet secrecy: senator to cross the floor

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 29-Sep-21

The federal government will need the support of four crossbench senators for its legislation to overturn a Federal Court ruling on the status of the national cabinet. Justice Richard White recently ruled in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal that the national cabinet is not covered by secrecy laws. Liberal senator Gerard Rennick has advised that he will vote against the legislation, stating that he has no time for secrecy and that Australians have a right to know what is discussed in meetings of the national cabinet.

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FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

National cabinet secrecy a convenient lie

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 28-Sep-21

Constitutional law expert Professor Anne Twomey has attacked legislation that will see the national cabinet become a sub-committee of the federal cabinet. The legislation has been quickly introduced after the Federal Court rejected an attempt by the federal government to label it as such, so as to exclude it from freedom of information laws. Twomey says the legislation is seeking to achieve a "convenient lie", while former counsel assisting the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption Geoffrey Watson, SC, has labelled the legislation as a "joke".

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FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, NEW SOUTH WALES. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION AGAINST CORRUPTION

Angus Taylor and Keith Pitt asked by Senate inquiry chair to explain dealings with firm awarded Beetaloo gas grants

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Original article by Christopher Knaus
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 2-Sep-21

Two federal government ministers are under scrutiny over the decision to award $21m in grants for gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin to Empire Energy, which has close links with the Liberal Party. It has been revealed that the company enquired about the eligibility criteria and application process for the grants some time before the guidelines for the program were released in March. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Energy Minister Angus Taylor and Resources Minister Keith Pitt must disclose whether they had any communications with Empire Energy prior to this date.

CORPORATES
EMPIRE ENERGY GROUP LIMITED – ASX EEG, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE, WATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, SCIENCE, ENERGY AND RESOURCES, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Morrison refuses to say if he saw list of marginal seats to get car park funding

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Original article by Katina Curtis, Shane Wright
The Age – Page: Online : 6-Aug-21

The federal government’s $660 million commuter car park grants program has come under severe criticism from the Auditor-General. Only three of the 47 car parks promised in early 2019 have been built, and the Auditor-General has found that there was no criteria for assessing the merit of projects and that 77 per cent of those that were initially funded were in marginal Coalition seats. The Auditor-General has claimed that a list of "top 20 marginal seats" was used as the basis for deciding which projects to finance. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to say if he saw such a list.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Senate to investigate key figures in sports rorts

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Original article by Rob Harris
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 6-Feb-20

The Senate has passed Labor’s motion to hold an inquiry into the so-called sports rorts scandal. Amongst other things, the probe will seek the release of a report into the affair by top bureaucrat Phil Gaetjens. It cleared former cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie of any wrongdoing over the allocation of sports grants, but found that she had breach ministerial standards over her failure to declare her membership of a shooting club that received a grant. Shadow sports minister Don Farrell says McKenzie’s former staffers may want to appear before the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

MPs warn of side effects if McKenzie fired

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 28-Jan-20

Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie remains under scrutiny over the ‘sports rorts’ scandal in her previous role as sports minister. Senior bureaucrat Phil Gaetjens will release a report into the allocation of sports grants in coming days, amid demands for McKenzie to lose her portfolio. However, some National Party MPs are concerned that removing McKenzie could embroil Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the scandal, as his office is believed to have passed requests for funds from Liberal MPs on to McKenzie’s office.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Australia among 21 nations where perceived corruption has worsened

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Original article by Christopher Knaus
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 24-Jan-20

Australia has received a rating of 77 out 100 in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. This is unchanged from 2019, although the nation has risen from 13th position to 12th in terms of the world’s least corrupt nations. Australia has also been identified as one of 21 countries in which perceived corruption has significantly declined since 2012. Transparency International Australia CEO Serena Lillywhite says the nation’s ranking and trust in the government will continue to decline unless a proposed federal anti-corruption agency is established.

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TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA

Turmoil as Nats split on rorts deputy

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 24-Jan-20

The future of Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie remains under scrutiny in the wake of the so-called ‘sports rorts’ scandal. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated that he will take appropriate action when an investigation by top bureaucrat Philip Gaetjens is completed. However, National Party leader Michael McCormack has expressed support for his embattled deputy, although some Nationals MPs believe that McKenzie’s position is untenable. She was sports minister when the grants for community sports groups were allocated.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

PM orders probe into McKenzie

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Olivia Caisley
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 23-Jan-20

The so-called ‘sports rorts’ scandal that has embroiled Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie has been referred to Philip Gaetjens, the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet. He will investigate whether McKenzie breached ministerial standards with regard to the allocation of sports grants in her previous role as sports minister. McKenzie has also been accused of a conflict of interests in giving a $35,000 grant to a clay target club of which she was a member. Labor contends that she may be in contempt of the Senate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER RESOURCES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY