The consortium was made up of Stockland, KPMG, Urbis and Smec. The options both focus on fast rail links from Beerwah to Maroochydore along the CAMCOS corridor, with Nambour appearing to remain stuck with the existing track. The two options were estimated to cost between $5.42 billion to $5.85 billion and $9.13 billion to $9.49 billion respectively. The news of Nambour s apparent snub prompted outcry from the Nambour Chamber of Commerce and it was understood Fairfax MP Ted O Brien had sought a full briefing of the business case currently under evaluation by Infrastructure Australia. Long-time Coast rail advocate Jeff Addison said he felt the whole business case process had been suborned .
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton charged taxpayers more than $36,000 to charter a Royal Australian Air Force jet to Tasmania to make a grants announcement for two councils during a 2018 byelection campaign.
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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.