[Theme Music Starts]

RUBY:

From Schwartz Media. I’m Ruby Jones this is 7am.

The Albanese government has been accused of pork-barrelling after an analysis of 1.35 billion dollars in grants found almost 90 per cent of projects were in Labor electorates.

Labor has defended the grants, saying they were campaign commitments that had to be met.

Today, independent MP Helen Haines on pork barrelling by the major parties, and how as we head to another election, the Albanese government rates on accountability and integrity.

It’s Wednesday, November 13.

[Theme Music Ends]

[Advertisement]

RUBY:

Good morning, Helen. Thank you so much for coming on 7am.

HELEN:

Hi Ruby. Great to be with you.

RUBY:

So you've done some analysis looking into the way the infrastructure department has spent some grant funds since the last election. To begin with, could you tell me a bit about why this is something that you wanted to look into, where it began for you?

HELEN:

Yeah, when I was elected to Parliament in 2019, a large part of my platform was around improving transparency and accountability in government, improving integrity, and really sticking up for rural and regional Australia. So for me, I'm always very conscious about where taxpayer dollars is being spent. And of course, during the previous parliament, we saw some significant pork barrelling that was identified, car park rorts, sports rorts and the like.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“The Morrison government has been accused of pork barrelling on a grand scale after it’s been reviewed $2 billion in taxpayer grants were pushed into Coalition electorates.”

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“Federal cabinet Minister Bridget Mckenzie approved a 36,000 taxpayer funded grant for a clay target shooting club in regional Victoria without publicly disclosing she was a member.”

Audio Excerpt - Anthony Albanese:

“It stinks more than a bucket of prawn heads you left out on a hot day like today.”

HELEN:

So being an independent, I am alive to this happening irrespective of who's in government. So I had a look at what the Labor government promised during the election campaign in 2022 and followed the trail of where some of that election promise money went.

RUBY:

So what did you discover?

HELEN:

So I had a close look at two grant programs that went to sporting clubs, various organisations to do things like improve swimming pools, build grandstands at showgrounds, things like that. And these two programs are called the Investing in Our Communities program. And the second one is Priority Community Infrastructure Program. Now the total amount of money that was in the budget for these programs amounts to $1.35 billion. That's a lot of money. And these two programs are closed non-competitive invitation only. And they were set up with the express purpose to deliver on promises made during an election campaign when Labor were in opposition.

I found that almost 90% of seats that Labor won or held at the election received a grant through these two invitation only, non-competitive grant programs. Now, to me that was a great big red flag around a pork barrel.

RUBY:

Right ok and so you took these concerns to the Infrastructure Minister, to Catherine King. Can you tell me about that?

HELEN:

So I went to her and said, I have a real concern about these two programs. And in contrast to the $1.35 billion for the non-competitive grants for these election promises, we we had less money allocated across rural and regional Australia for competitive grant programs.

I take the view that the New South Wales ICAC made that when public funds and resources are targeted to electors for partisan purposes. That's pork barrelling.

RUBY:

Right. And what did she say back to you about that?

HELEN:

The minister and I have a fundamental disagreement about this. I think all major party senior people believe that it is absolutely reasonable and fine. And this is just the way business is done during the election campaign, that oppositions and governments go out and make promises. So the Minister and I have a different view of this.

So that's how the meeting went. And I then let the Minister know, given that there was no other explanation than that these were promises made during an election campaign that I would be referring these two programs to the Auditor-General. It's ultimately up to the Auditor General to decide whether there is time in their work schedule to take a look at this.

RUBY:

Right. And this issue, the issue of how grant money is allocated and whether it's done in a fair way. It’s not new. So can you tell me about how you’ve witnessed this in your own electorate over the years, as major parties have attempted to win it back?

HELEN:

When I ran in 2019. There was prime ministerial visits. There were promises of all sorts of infrastructure. One was on our major highway, which was to create an overpass in a difficult intersection.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“The McKoy street intersection has long been described as a death trap. 50 trucks a day go through the intersection, David Bird has witnessed several near misses.”

HELEN:

There was significant federal funds promised by the then Morrison government. And ultimately that project didn't continue during the subsequent government. I kept pushing for that money to be delivered, but it couldn't be delivered because the planning wasn't done. There wasn't the matching funds from the State Government. And ultimately when the Albanese government formed in 2022, that particular project under Minister King's audit was found to not be able to be fulfilled.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“The notoriously dangerous intersection is one of 50 projects on the chopping block, the cuts already slammed by truckies and politicians alike.”

HELEN:

And there were many projects not just in my electorate but across Australia that fell into that category. So when projects are promised without complete and careful planning, they’re often delayed or fall over or have insufficient funds. You know, ultimately communities don't always win from this. In fact, you know, there are plenty of examples where, where ultimately they lose from this.

I think it's a really egregious practice and I don't think it should continue and I'll continue to call it out until such a time that we can stamp it out. But I know that that's not a view held by the major parties Ruby, that's a view held by integrity experts such as the Centre for Public Integrity Accountability Roundtable and indeed New South Wales ICAC. So that's where we are right now and of course we're coming into election season again and you can be jolly sure that this will continue to happen.

RUBY:

Coming up after the break - the Albanese government’s looming integrity test.

[Advertisement]

RUBY:

Helen, integrity in government was a big issue in the last election. A lack of it was one of the main reasons that the Coalition ultimately lost power. So how do you think of this government, the Albanese government, is going to be judged on that metric as people come out to vote again?

HELEN:

Well. Yes, you're absolutely right. You know, full points to the Albanese Government in the National Anti-Corruption Commission being created. However, I think that this government gets less points from me.

They have not fulfilled their promises around robust whistleblower reform, and I have very deep concerns about that. Right now we have Mr. Richard Boyle, who is, you know, a case exemplar of the failures and weaknesses of our whistleblowing laws.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“Today former public servant Richard Boyle will face court in SA accused of doing just that, blowing the whistle on dodgy tax practices at his former employer the Australian Tax Office.”

HELEN:

I think we've seen the impact of lobbyists, and that's been playing out through the various concerns around Qantas in the past few weeks in particular, where we have almost unfettered lobbying happening across the Parliament. We don't know what happens behind ministerial doors when, when lobbyists are there. We don't have open and transparent ministerial diaries for example.

And I think perhaps the third element is also the jobs for mates work that Sophie Scamps, member for Mackellar, has been undertaking.

We cannot be confident that appointments to statutory boards and the likes completely merit based are not influenced by political favours.

RUBY:

And you mentioned the National Anti-Corruption Commission that the Albanese government has put in place. You campaigned for its creation for many years. So the NACC that we now have, how does it compare to what you’d hoped to see established?

HELEN:

Well, Ruby, you're right. We finally achieved passing that legislation, my gosh, about 20 months ago now. And to Labor Party's credit, when they formed government under Mr. Albanese, that was very high order of business and I was very happy to engage fulsomely in that process. I wanted to ask some stronger transparency elements in that legislation than was ultimately achieved, but I certainly celebrate it, as did many others when we were able to stand up the very first Federal Anti-Corruption Commission.

So how's it gone since?

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“The National Anti Corruption Commission has ruled out further investigation into the public officials behind the disastrous robodebt scheme that saw thousands of families hounded for debt they didn’t owe.”

HELEN:

There's no question that the Australian public very, very disappointed about that and exercised their rights under the legislation to complain to the inspector of the NACC. In my mind, the strong legislative authorities of the inspector have played out in a way that is, I think appropriate.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“The National Anti Corruption Commission says it will review a decision not to launch an investigation into the robodebt scandal. A review of that decision has been released claiming the watchdog’s commissioner didn’t properly deal with a perceived conflict of interest.”

HELEN:

There was a finding of misconduct which subsequently has now led to. An eminent person being appointed to re-investigate whether robo debt should be investigated by the NACC.

RUBY:

I mean, everything that you've outlined to what extent do you think that they point to some fundamental problems? Do you think that there needs to be some sort of overhaul, some sort of reform of the NACC at this point?

HELEN:

I think what this points to is a rocky start to the NACC. I certainly wish that we hadn't had a finding of this type by the inspector so early on in, in the standing up of the NACC. But I feel confident that the role of the inspector, the way the legislation is working has demonstrated that the legislation is strong in that an Inspector without fear or favour, can come in and say, look, there's a problem here and it needs to be fixed. So I think that's good. I don't think the NACC needs an overhaul, not at all. I think we now need to let this process play out. The inspector's report has been tabled. There is an eminent person now delegated to relook at the decision on robodebt.

And in fact we have a public hearing, the oversight committee, of which I'm Deputy Chair Ruby. We have a public hearing ourselves with the NACC on the 22nd of November and we will be examining the first year. So there'll be opportunities to ask questions and I'll certainly be doing that.

RUBY:

Well, thank you so much for your time today.

HELEN:

It's been a pleasure, Ruby. Thanks for the opportunity for a chat.

RUBY:

In a statement to The Saturday Paper a spokesperson for Minister King said:

“All projects underwent a rigorous merit assessment to confirm eligibility under the program guidelines and to determine value for taxpayers’ money.

Any projects that did not satisfy these requirements were not approved for funding.”

[Theme Music Starts]

RUBY:

Also in the news,

The federal government has earmarked up to $80 million for the regional airline Rex, which went into voluntary administration in July.

The government says the funding will keep critical regional routes running as well as pay entitlements for Rex’s former employees.

And, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has confirmed the Prime Minister approved pager attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In September, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members simultaneously exploded in Beirut and other areas killing at least 12 and injuring thousands more.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am. See you tomorrow.

[Theme Music Ends]