Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I think Senator Rennick's interjection indicates exactly why the former government cared so little about accountability if that's the way in which they regarded the high office of Auditor-General of this country.

What the report released last week showed is that communities in regional Australia have been dudded, as the coalition actively ignored grant guidelines for their own political purposes in the largest open and competitive grants program available for regional projects. Regional communities with projects assessed as deserving were dumped to accommodate the political needs of a desperate, failing government in its final hours.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Now, we always said in the run-up to the election that the coalition spent public money like it was Liberal-National Party money.