NSW opposition threatens to refer matter to corruption watchdog after auditor general’s scathing report on grants process
Barilaro will again be in the news on Monday as the parliamentary inquiry into his controversial appointment to a New York trade role is expected to hand down its report. Barilaro, the former trade minister, has insisted he did nothing wrong but withdrew from the role citing undue media attention.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The auditor general, Margaret Crawford, found the $541.8m bushfire recovery grants scheme lacked transparency and that although there was no designated role for Barilaro in handing out the grants, his office introduced a $1m threshold for projects, denying funding for anything less than that amount.
The Department of Regional NSW gave the then deputy premier’s office a list of 35 projects to be funded in a fast-tracked first round in 2020, listing their electorates. The introduced threshold effectively ruled out projects in areas held by theThe report said it was unclear why the department listed the electorates as they did not form part of the selection process, and that the role of Barilaro’s office’s in implementing a threshold “deviated from the guidelines”.
The program was jointly funded by the state and federal governments and administered by the state to pay for projects in bushfire-ravaged communities to create jobs and protect against future disasters.
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