THE HON ANTHONY ALBANESE MP
LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY
MEMBER FOR GRAYNDLER

SENATOR DON FARRELL

SHADOW SPECIAL MINISTER OF STATE

SHADOW MINISTER FOR SPORT

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TOURISM

SHADOW MINISTER ASSISTING THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

STOP THE SPIN, SAY SORRY AND FUND SPORTS CLUBS

Scott Morrison should fund all projects recommended by Sport Australia under the Community Sport Infrastructure program but snubbed for a grant by his Government.
It won’t make up for the arrogant contempt with which his Government cheated hard-working grassroots sports club volunteers across the country, but it is the very least he could do.
Clubs that had a go but didn’t get a go also deserve an apology.
The Auditor-General’s report clearly states that the Government decided “which projects should be funded with additional analysis on ‘marginal’ electorates held by the Coalition as well as those electorates not held by the Coalition that were to be ‘targeted’ in the 2019 Election”.
But despite this crystal clear finding, the Morrison Government claims there’s nothing wrong with blatantly abusing taxpayers’ money for its own Party political purposes.
Labor will today move to establish a Senate Select Committee inquiry to pursue the truth about who was involved in the Morrison Government’s industrial-scale pork-barrelling plot.
We have consulted with the crossbench and they share both our understanding of Australians’ anger over this blatant rort and our commitment to get to the bottom of it.
A Senate inquiry with the power to call witnesses and require documents will enable a thorough investigation of what roles Bridget McKenzie, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and any external parties may have played in the Morrison Government’s sports rorts scandal.
Australians want answers and sports clubs, councils and organisations that did the right thing deserve a Government that does the right thing.

WEDNESDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2020