2020-02-15
The Greens will refer the Environment Restoration Fund and the Communities Environment Program to the Auditor General for investigation, after The Saturday Paper reported today the $100m grants were used by the Coalition for pork-barrelling.
Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Government's use of the funding looks and stinks like 'sports rorts'.
"A $100m grants program for environment restoration projects has reportedly been restricted to 25 preselected projects, most of them in key seats for the Coalition," she said.
"Much like with sports rorts there's been no transparency, no criteria to meet and surprise funding for grantees who didn't even apply for a grant.
"If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck - or in this case, a rort.
"This is why I'm referring the Environment Restoration Fund and the Communities Environment program to the Auditor General for investigation.
"We need the same scrutiny from the Auditor General on this program, as he gave to the billions of taxpayer dollars handed out under the Community Sport Infrastructure grants program, exposing the rorting and bringing down a Government Minister.
"We need to hold this government accountable for their rorting of taxpayer money to keep themselves in power, but we also need to stand up for our environment which also bears the brunt of the Coalition's incompetency.
"More money is desperately needed for environmental restoration but it needs to be going to projects that need it the most, not where the LNP is trying to hold seats at election time."