John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

What Senator Bernardi, backed up by my colleague Senator Macdonald, has raised here today is really concerning—this handling of a regional slush fund. That is how it has been described. The ANAO report on the Regional Development Australia Fund found that almost half the money went to projects that had not been recommended for funding and that money had been withheld from coalition seats. Is this how those opposite work with taxpayers' money?

The Australian National Audit Office report tabled this afternoon raises a number of questions about decisions made by the then regional services minister, Catherine King, relating to the administration of some $226 million worth of Regional Development Australia funds. I find this appalling. We have heard of union slush funds—they are commonly mentioned when we talk about the Labor Party and how they operate. But this is regional development funding that should have been going out evenly, with no bias whatsoever, into the regional areas that so desperately need support. Instead, the previous Labor government put together a slush fund.

Ms King has rejected any suggestion that there was mishandling of funding. Of course she has! Some 106 funding applications were deemed to be 'not recommended for funding' by an independent advisory panel, but Ms King funded 14 of them anyway—to a total of $87 million. That is another $87 million of pork-barrelling. This is appalling and I hope that this chamber has more to say about these disgraceful actions of bias, using regional development money as a slush fund and not spending taxpayers' money on a fair and appropriate basis—allocating it based on need—throughout regional Australia. I hope this is not the last we hear of this.

I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted.