Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased that the gentlemen opposite have stayed to hear a little bit more about what's in the report, because I know they want to quote one little section of it. But here we've got some other things that were found in the report that I think they might be interested in hearing about. The Audit Office also found that they approved an ineligible application for funding. They approved five late applications for funding, with no exemption reasons recorded. They failed to verify the claims around ongoing jobs created for each proposed grant. They did not provide reasons when rejecting 28 per cent of applications recommended by the department. They approved 17 per cent of applications not recommended by the department without adequate reasons. They failed to appropriately consider co-funding exemptions awarding four applications, a total of $1.74 million, without any private co-investment.

We're not standing here trying to say that this investment in regional areas in Queensland is a bad thing. We're certainly not trying to say that the projects that received this funding didn't deserve the funding or need the funding, but what we are here trying to ask and find out the answer to is: why was this process so skewed by ministerial intervention to lead to a situation where one electorate received 89 per cent of the funding pool?

I also want an answer to the question that I asked Senator McKenzie about the statement that was made to TheCairns Post, and Senator Urquhart did refer to those announcements in TheCairns Post and in Tasmania. It is a surprise that she wasn't able to answer that question today. But I asked her about the process conducted by the department. The Cairns Post on Saturday reported that a statement from the office of Warren Entsch, the member for Leichhardt, said that these decisions had been made by the department. We know that's not true. We know that is a misleading statement. The department didn't agree with the statement, of course, and told The Cairns Post that this was an issue for the government to answer. So we've come here today looking for that answer, and of course we haven't received it. We know that the ministerial panel, including the Deputy Prime Minister, was responsible for assessing and awarding grants. The statement by the member for Leichhardt's office is completely misleading. Why is the member for Leichhardt's office giving misleading statements to The Cairns Post? Perhaps it's because 12 months ago The Cairns Post broke a story about a $2.4 million grant being awarded under an extreme cloud of conflict of interest. I would want to avoid front pages like that as well if I were in the government.

Let me be clear: people on this side do support investment in regional Queensland. We want these jobs to flow and these projects to get off the ground, but surely questions must be answered when the member for Leichhardt's office is giving misleading statements to The Cairns Post, when 89 per cent of a funding pool goes to an electorate, and when we know that tropical North Queensland is a region that covers two electorates. These are questions that need to be answered, and I would be happy if the minister would come in here and answer these questions, would make this information public, would tell us which projects missed out, and would tell us what has happened to the $2.4 million for QRX Group 1. All they need to do is release this information, but they won't do that, because we know that this is a rort for regional votes. While parts of regional Queensland missed out and while parts of Kennedy missed out and while the jobs that this investment was meant to create go wanting in a place that needs them more than anywhere else, one job was protected, and that was the job of the member for Leichhardt.

Question agreed to.