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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton against accusations of pork-barrelling, as the cabinet minister says his changes gave the Commonwealth more bang for its buck.
Mr Dutton handpicked 53 projects to share in $8.5 million for security cameras and safety lighting in the months before the last federal election, only five of which were in safe Labor seats.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, right, says he is not aware of anything to show Peter Dutton broke the rules of a grants program that directed money overwhelmingly to coalition or marginal electorates ahead of the 2019 election.
Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
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Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton handpicked 53 projects to share in $8.5 million for security cameras and safety lighting ahead of the last federal election, only five of which were in safe Labor seats.
The opposition has asked the Auditor-General to examine the Safer Communities Fund after departmental documents revealed Mr Dutton diverted almost half the total pool of funding away from recommended projects to his handpicked ones in January 2019.
The Home Affairs department warned Mr Dutton he âmay be criticisedâ if he decided to âmake funding decisions that do not reflect the order of meritâ.
Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
A Home Affairs department briefing to Mr Dutton, released under freedom of information to the ABC, listed the top 70 projects able to be funded with the $17.5 million available.
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Peter Dutton slashed funding for highly regarded community safety projects. Then he selected his own list to fund
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FebFebruary 2021 at 2:39pm
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton overruled his department s recommendations on grant funding for the Safer Communities program.
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Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton personally slashed millions in grant funding from organisations that were strongly recommended by his department to improve community safety, and used the funds to support his own handpicked list that did not follow his department s recommendations.
Key points:
The Home Affairs Department recommended funding a list of 70 community safety projects using a merit-based assessment
Behind the curtain: meet the writers shaping local TV in 2021
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From a drama about dying with dignity to a comedy exploring cancel culture, Australia isn’t going to run out of compelling local TV any time soon.
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