Rorts watch

Rort	Detail	Action
Rich sports handouts Federal and state	Brisbane Broncos get $5m for training centre, West Coast Eagles $10m, Collingwood AFL $15m, Sydney Swans $15m, Clay Target Assn $5.5M for convention centre – all clubs making healthy profits.	Unlikely
‘Cabinet’ a nonsense Federal and state	Justice White rules FOI does not apply because National Cabinet is not a real cabinet, opens way for discovering what’s behind ‘gas-led recovery’ spend.	None yet
Car parks Federal	$660.4 million spent on commuter car parks with 77% in LNP or would-be LNP seats, picked by LNP senators and candidates. No policy objectives or assessment on merit.	ANAO report is highly critical of spend, Government denies wrong-doing.
Water rights Federal	Update 19/3 Auditor-General asking why the $13m overspend on water. $80m to buy non-existent water rights from previously Angus Taylor-controlled offshore entity, approved by Barnaby Joyce	Auditor General reviewing
Sports rorts Federal	Update 19/3 Senate Select Committee inquiry reports on political lines, unlikely to deliver reform. $102.5 million handed out grants with no legal authority, by-passing proper process to largely benefit marginal electorates and well-heeled clubs	Senate inquiry reports. In-house investigation kept secret, ANAO finds bias, Minister MacKenzie stood down, no commitment to act.
Lib polster paid for secret research Federal	Jim Reed, Liberal Party polster with Crosby Textor paid $500k for NCCC market research that can’t be made public. No tender.	No action
Assist. Treasurer overclaims Federal	Stuart Robert claimed $2k/month for internet expenses.	Forced to repay $38k. No other action.
Sharma insider trades Federal	Liberal MP Dave Sharma bought shares in Qantas just as the announcement was made to provide a relief package of $715m to the airlines. Months later, just before Morrison agreed with CSL to make millions of doses of a Covid vaccine, Sharma bought CSL shares.	No action
Staffer made ACCC commissioner Federal	11/12 Peter Crone, former adviser to PM Howard, gave economic advice costing $136k and in Dec. appointed to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission	No action
Marketing deal for insider Federal	Richard Forbes, former media adviser to the Nationals, wins $189 bid for spin on how well the bushfire recovery is going. No tender.	No action
$10m for Visy stacker Federal	Visy donated $3m, about 1/2 each to the Libs and Labor before the 2019 election. The $10m for the stacker was paid out of the bushfire recovery fund.	ANAO doing an audit of Bushfire Recovery Agency.
Off to the races on public purse Federal	9/12 57 MPs travelled to, in, or from Melbourne around the time of the 2019 Melbourne Cup. Deputy PM, Michael McCormack, and wife used government jet into Tabcorp’s Melbourne Cup party justifying the trip by re-announcing a 3-year-old grant for a sports hall.	Independent Parlt. Expenses Authority investigating expenses claimed by 13 MPs
PM, Treasurer party trip Federal	4/11 Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg took a taxpayer-funded flight in a private jet to Lachlan Murdoch’s Christmas party costing $5k. Parliamentary business? Unlikely. Vested interest, probably.	No action as yet
Lap dancers, wine, non-existent staff WA	27/11 WA Corruption and Crime Commission reports former MP Phil Edman impeded investigation and used taxpayer funds for strip club, wine tours, employee who didn’t turn up to work for 7 years.	Likely to lead to criminal charges
Berejiklian says rorts OK Federal/NSW	27/11Berejiklian actually says all governments and all oppositions make commitments to the community in order to curry favour. That’s part of the political process whether we like it or not. Documents approving Stronger Communities Grants to local councils worth $250m shredded by NSW Premier’s office	NSW Parliamentary committee investigating
NCCC conflict of interests secret Federal	The COVID-19 Coordination Commissioners have made declarations of conflicts of interest but these will not be made public. Chair, Nev Power and Deputy, Andrew Liveris, pushing gas interests.
NSW Airport rort Federal	Update 19/11 Morrison government refuses to comply with Senate order to produce 10 briefs on the controversial purchase. Land at Badgery Creek worth $3m purchased for $30m. Owners of the land donated $176,600 to the Liberal Party	ANAO found the sale fell short of ethical standards, under investigation
Bribes paid to councillors for rezoning Vic	Lobbyists linked to ALP and Libs were paid $500k each and Casey councillors bribed by a property developer to get chicken farm zoned for housing in Cranbourne South. Property developer donated to the ALP before the last election. Land value increased from $73k to $550m.	IBAC investigating, Casey council sacked
Jobs for the boys at AAT Federal	Attorneys General Porter and Brandis appointed 70 former MPs and staffers to the AAT. Appointee and former staffer, Tony Barry, admits to having been kicked out of law school.	Review of AAT recommends merit-based process. No govt. action.
International job for Treasurer Federal	Mathias Cormann resigned from Parliament to bid for OECD chief but taxpayers paid for his 21,000km in private jet flights around Europe @$4,300/hour for him and 8 government staff. As at 7 Feb he was in the shortlist of 5 for the $300k/year tax free salary.	Govt agreed
Chris Pyne gets lucrative defence consultancies Federal	Former Defence Minister, Christopher Pyne waited the requisite 18 months exclusion period but now lobbies on behalf of big defence contractors Elbit Systems, Saber Astronautics, Droneshield, and Ethan Group -mmajor suppliers to the ADF and. while still in Cabinet. negotiated work with EY consultants.	In line with Ministerial standards but demonstrates the exclusion period should be at least 3 years.
Palmer again Qld and Federal	Clive Palmer lies about ‘Labor’s death tax’ in the Queensland State Election. Will likely spend the max allowed under new Qld caps on donations and election spending, hoping his business interests will benefit from an LNP Government.	Misleading and deceptive conduct prohibited by law for corporations and commerce but not for politics
Vic Rail execs on the take Vic	Fleet Manager of Metro Trains and V/Line CEO pocket ~$150k each from cleaning company to cover up poor performance.	Vic IBAC is investigating
Top 40 tax dodgers Federal	Michael West lists the latest companies that make huge profits and pay little or nothing in tax and the fossil fuel sector is well-represented! ExxonMobil made over $42b over 5 years and paid zero tax.	Exxon spent $10m fighting the ATO, uses tax havens
Daryl Maguire NSW	Dodgy property and immigration deals, peddling access to Premier	NSW ICAC investigating. Ministers and Parliamentary Secs now banned from property deal commissions
ASIC Chair rorting Federal	ASIC Chair, James Shipton and his deputy paid $180,000 to relocate and manage personal tax affairs and this is the regulator!	Discovered by ANAO, investigation underway by consultant, Vivienne Thom
Aust Post watches Federal	Update: Govt settles unfair dismissal. $12k spent on four Cartier watches for execs – the latest in a long list of executive gifts. Post claims it is a commercial entity even though wholly owned by the Commonwealth. Board is stacked with Liberal party leaders and former MPs.	Coms Minister orders an investigation. PM overreacts, stands down CEO. Taxpayers fund $1.1m settlement
Water rights Federal	Update 19/3 Auditor-General asking why the $13m overspend on water. $80m to buy non-existent water rights from previously Angus Taylor-controlled offshore entity, approved by Barnaby Joyce	Auditor General reviewing
JobKeeper rorts Federal	JobKeeper payments used to pay dividends to shareholders and executive bonuses	No action
Foxtel bailout Federal	Foxtel received $40m overall for its flagging subscription TV service, supposedly to broadcast women’s sport. Foxtel is Murdoch-owned which relentlessly promotes the Coalition. Arguably the Coalition’s NBN rollout to the node made it slower and less of a threat to subscription TV. ABC must pay for licensing fee to rebroadcast.	No explanation as to why necessary. FOIs answered but hugely redacted.
General Covid pork-barrelling Federal	Billions spent on projects – regional swimming pools, Regional Growth Fund, Building Better Regions Fund, Urban Congestion Fund, Regional Jobs and Investment Package – which were overwhelmingly in Liberal seats and/or had dodgy approvals process.	No action
Drought Communities Program Federal	Of the 14 councils awarded funds under this program, 6 did not meet the agricultural employment threshold, 7 did not meet the rainfall deficiency threshold but were awarded the $1m each anyway, 13 councils were in coalition seats	No action
Female Facilities and Water Safety Stream Federal	No guidelines, no tender process, no application form. Some recipients first heard about it in the local paper.	No action
Sports rorts Federal	Update 19/3 Senate Select Committee inquiry reports on political lines $102.5 million handed out grants with no legal authority, by-passing proper process to largely benefit marginal electorates and well-heeled clubs	In-house investigation kept secret, ANAO finds bias, Minister MacKenzie stood down, no commitment to act differently.
Lies about flights Federal	Angus Taylor falsely claimed the City of Sydney spent $15m on air travel when it was only $6k but the document relied upon cannot be found	No one found responsible
Aust Border Force Federal	$39m ‘fee’ handed out to boat builder Austal to prop up failing business. Austral donated $20k to the Liberal party.	Uncovered by Auditor General in 2018, now being investigated by ACLEI
$1.3b arms deal Federal	Government goes to extraordinary lengths to suppress Auditor General’s report showing cheaper options	Senator Rex Patrick pursuing
Robodebt Federal	Centrelink raises ~$2billion in unlawful debts using income averaging. Brought in debt collectors causing great anxiety. Delays in payments. No apology, no acknowledgement of the damage to victims.	Government settles out of court 17/11 pays out $1.2b. Court action by Vic Legal Aid successful. No one sacked.
Great Barrier Reef fund Federal	Coalition awarded $430m contract to small, Liberal Party-connected organisation despite an existing, established and well-credentialed group applying for funds. (Real problem for reef is global warming.)	ANAO investigates, warns serious shortcomings in assessment criteria.
Helloworld holiday Federal	Helloworld travel agency paid for Finance Minister Mathias Cormann’s family holiday to Singapore within two weeks of the Coalition awarding Helloworld a Government contract worth over $1billion. Andrew Burnes, Liberal Party treasurer is major shareholder of Helloworld.	Cormann paid the money back when he realised the SMH knew.