ABC Digital News-Liberals, Labor questioned over promises of money ahead of Tasmanian state election
Bec Pridham | ABC NEWS – Digital Online | 12 March 2024
Liberals, Labor questioned over promises of money ahead of Tasmanian state election
Both of Tasmania’s major political parties have come under scrutiny for their handling of community grants, with integrity around the commitment of public money questioned as election day draws closer.
On Sunday, Liberal state director Peter Coulson announced almost $20 million of taxpayer money for local sporting clubs, community groups and councils, if the party gets another term following the March 23 poll.
The full list of community commitments was published on the party’s website.
Among the most expensive is $980,000 for “stage one” of a “high-performance training centre” for Kings Meadows Bowls Club, and $500,000 for extensions and a change room upgrade for the South Hobart Football Club.
But the handling of such grants has come under fire, with the Liberals accused of “pork-barrelling” and avoiding candidates being scrutinised for any conflict of interest they might hold with groups by hiding behind their campaign manager.
It’s the third consecutive election campaign that the party has been accused of electoral bribery, most recently over the Community Project Election Commitment Form, an internal document that allows candidates to seek funding for community projects.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said candidates and MPs are separate from the grants assessment process, but acknowledged applications were looked at internally, and projects are subject to approval by both houses of parliament.
Mr Rockliff said his party had been “open and transparent” and called the decision-making process “robust”, saying it reflected community sentiment and need.
“This is a process that reflects the Integrity Commission recommendations, but also a process that reflects candidates listening and learning in their communities,” he said.
Instead, the Liberals have accused Labor of being secretive in their allocation of grants, asking who was behind funding decisions, how conflicts of interest were managed, and if and when they’d be made public.
Labor says instead of candidates suggesting projects for funding, the party put out a call-out late last year to peak bodies and local government entities to submit funding proposals.
The party has announced its “support” for several community grants so far, but says the projects would still need to be assessed by the department if elected to government.
Labor announced its support for $400,000 to the Derwent Valley Council to upgrade the New Norfolk War Memorial Hall, revealed in a letter to the mayor, as well as an undisclosed amount for projects at Lilydale, announced on candidate Janie Finlay’s Facebook page.
The premier said the way Labor announced the projects was not transparent.
“A nod and a wink, a text message here, an email there, that’s not good enough, that’s not open, that’s not transparent,” Mr Rockliff said.
Labor defends their method
“Of course we’ve written letters, they’re not secret leaked letters, we’ve of course written to organisations who we’ve been working with,” Ms Haddad said.
The party is still to confirm if and when it will list its commitments publicly. Ms Haddad said the parliamentary caucus assesses the projects.
Firing back at the Liberals, Ms Haddad said they were yet to explain their approval process and were operating as if the rules did not apply.
“They are behaving in a way that shows the Tasmanian people that they will run roughshod over them, and they will not spend their money responsibly,” she said.
Integrity expert ‘sceptical’ about process
Integrity expert Stuart Hamilton said the Liberals’ approach “didn’t pass the pub test”.
He said the party had committed “the trifecta of flaws” — making promises during an election campaign, not being an open process that anyone can apply for, and a non-elected person making the announcement.
“It sort of emphasises how purely party political it is, whereas these things are meant to be programs that benefit the community,” he said.
“Once the well of public integrity is poisoned in this way, it’s very hard for others not to go to the same place,” he said.
“Unless there is a vote for integrity, they won’t see that as having the same weight as a vote for the party that’s providing the piece of lolly.”
The process would stack up if parties set up a pool of unallocated money for community grants ahead of the election, he said, but he was wary about already earmarked projects.
“One would have to be a little sceptical about how independent that process up to the election would be … the pressure would be enormous not to make recommendations that are different from the already announced grants,” he said.
“If you want to be able to point to a process of integrity, lay off making the individual announcements.”
Money ‘does not belong to Liberals or Labor’
In its 2022 report into ethical conduct and potential misconduct risks in Tasmanian elections, the Integrity Commission recommended the government introduce mandatory grant rules modelling the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines.
The principles are robust planning and design, collaboration and partnership, proportionality, an outcomes orientation, achieving value with relevant money, governance and accountability, and probity and transparency.
Independent upper house MP Meg Webb stressed grants were public money, not to be spent on “political self-interest”, and accused the Liberals of “ditching integrity … at the drop of a hat”.
“This [money] does not belong to the Liberal Party or the Labor Party to throw about like lollies trying to attract votes, and buy favour with the community,” she said.
“We should always see a process that puts the community priorities at the top and that is done fairly and openly, transparently and can be accountable to the community.
“[Liberals and Labor] habits of pork-barrelling need to be overtly set aside and proper process put there instead, and that way the Tasmanian voter knows they can trust the decisions being made with their money.”
Ms Webb said both parties needed to follow an assessment process where decisions were made objectively and at arm’s length from those politically involved.
“That’s not what we’re seeing here from the Liberals, we’re seeing an in-house secretive process that relies on people knowing a candidate who can put them forward for some public funding, it’s not appropriate,” she said.
‘Pork-barrelling’ needs to stop, say Greens
Tasmanian Greens candidate Vica Bayley accused the Liberals of committing “a shocking abuse of process”, calling it an inappropriate way to allocate money.
“No one can begrudge community groups putting up their hand for additional funding, but there needs to be a transparent, merit-based process whereby these decisions are made, not some unelected apparatchik in the Liberal Party who gets to make decisions about where public money is spent,” he said.
“This is pork-barrelling writ large, and it needs to stop.”
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