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'It's a disgrace': What you need to know about the sports grants scandal

A scandal which has plagued the government for the past week looks poised to take down a senior member of Cabinet.

Nationals deputy leader and Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie has been under fire for several days over what the media has dubbed the Sports Rorts scandal, after she oversaw $100 million of grants to sporting clubs.

While she didn’t break any laws, the grants were systematically gifted to marginal seats before the recent federal election, ostensibly in a bid to tip the scales towards the incumbent government in those electorates.

After initially digging in, reports suggest Bridget McKenzie will be removed from the front bench. Source: AAP
After initially digging in, reports suggest Bridget McKenzie will be removed from the front bench. Source: AAP

Despite being stedfast in her denial of any wrongdoing, on Thursday afternoon conflicting reports suggested Ms McKenzie was set to step down over the scandal as criticism continues to be levelled at her.

According to Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell, she is expected to resign from the front-bench by Friday afternoon.

Where did the sports grant money come from?

The money was set aside in 2018 to give funding to needy sports clubs to help with player growth and participation. It was setup with guidelines on how the money was meant to be allocated with a range of criteria in mind.

Projects were assessed by independent government agency Sports Australia but in October last year it was revealed applications for much-needed funding were rejected by Ms McKenzie, using her ministerial power to select her own recipients.

Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of the projects which received money were not recommended by Sports Australia.

Why are people so angry?

In practice, the $100 million sports grant scheme — formally the Community Sport Infrastructure program — was supposed to be handed out based on merit and go to clubs where the money was most needed.

A highly critical auditor-general report released into the scheme this month found “the award of grant funding was not informed by an appropriate assessment process and sound advice; the successful applications were not those that had been assessed as the most meritorious in terms of the published program guidelines.”

The government has continued to say all projects that received money were eligible and no rules were broken, which is true.

But critics say it’s at best pork barrelling (where governments use tax payer money on local projects to essentially buy votes) and at worst, a form of government corruption.

As the scandal was reported last week, and the government continued to deny any wrongdoing, the hashtag #CrimeMinisterMorrison emerged as voters vented their anger at the government.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said Thursday that “Bridget McKenzie needs to resign”.

“This abuse is rank. It stinks more than a bucket of prawn heads that you left out on a hot day like today. The stench goes all the way up to the government,” he told reporters.

Is there a precedent?

This sorts of thing is effectively becoming part of the game of modern politics, further eroding the public’s faith in political institutions.

But in years gone by when Ministerial standards were stricter, a Labor minister was forced to resign over a strikingly similar scandal.

In 1994, then Sports Minister Ros Kelly was forced to resign after she came under pressure and was unable to adequately explain the distribution of $30 million worth of federal sporting grants to marginal electorates held by Labor.

It was that scandal where this latest episode got its name.

Did Bridget McKenzie give money to her own gun club?

This week, Ms McKenzie came under more pressure when the Sydney Morning Herald revealed the minister was a member of a shooting club which received a $36,000 grant.

Her membership of the club was not declared by the minister, seemingly in breach of the rules. Her office argued that disclosure was unnecessary because it was a gift worth less than $300.

This part of the scandal will be investigated specifically with the Prime Minister saying the shooting club issue was "very, very different" to the broader controversy surrounding the grants scheme.

Could the government get sued?

Law firm Slater and Gordon has said it was canvassing the potential of a class action law suit, saying it was possible as tens of millions of dollars in sporting club grants were awarded to clubs whose applications for funding would otherwise have been unsuccessful.

Meanwhile law academic Professor Anne Twomey also questioned whether the constitution was breached as the federal government has no power to hand out money to sports clubs, raising further questions.

What has the Prime Minister done?

Mr Morrison has referred the issue to Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Philip Gaetjens to see if ministerial standards were breached.

Philip Gaetjens, who will be running the investigation, is Scott Morrison’s former chief of staff.

Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie and Prime Minister Scott Morrison speak to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra this month. Source: AAP
Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie and Prime Minister Scott Morrison speak to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra this month. Source: AAP

The prime minister said there was no deadline for the secretary's report.

“I'm not going to prejudice the outcome of that report, I think that would be unfair to that process and to the secretary,” he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

“I'll let him do his job and then I will look at that advice and take whatever action is necessary.”

Despite mounting pressure to quit her senior cabinet role, and reports she would succumb to pressure and resign, on Thursday Senator McKenzie was still digging in.

“The minister is not resigning. She is actively engaging in the process and is confident there has not been a breach in ministerial standards,” a spokeswoman for the deputy Nationals leader told AAP.

— With AAP

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