{"id":247659,"date":"2021-07-22T01:15:16","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T01:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationaus.com\/?p=20382"},"modified":"2021-07-22T01:15:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T01:15:16","slug":"govt-baking-in-rorts-to-800m-manufacturing-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/07\/22\/govt-baking-in-rorts-to-800m-manufacturing-grants\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt \u2018baking-in\u2019 rorts to $800m manufacturing grants"},"content":{"rendered":"

The coalition government\u2019s<\/strong> $800 million manufacturing grants program will be used as a slush fund in the run up to the next election, Labor has warned, after it was revealed the Prime Minister will have final say on where the money goes.<\/p>\n

The Opposition is raising the alarm about the grants program \u2013 the collaboration stream of the government\u2019s flagship $1.3 billion Modern Manufacturing Initiative \u2013 because the guidelines published last month show<\/a> Scott Morrison will have final approval on which manufacturers receive individual grants up to $200 million for large scale projects.<\/p>\n

Under the guidelines, Industry Innovation and Science Australia will review applications and advise the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, currently Christian Porter, who will recommend projects to the Prime Minister for a final decision.<\/p>\n

Applications open next month and close in September, with assessments expected to take up to 19 weeks, which would see announcements made in the lead up to the next federal election, widely expected to be held early next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis grant is clearly being structured in such a way as to streamline pork-barrelling and proactively stymie scrutiny by attempting to normalise the same process that was so heavily criticised during sports rorts,\u201d Shadow Minister for government accountability Kristina Keneally said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this grant represents is the formal baking-in of the infamous colour-coded spreadsheets \u2013 a complete subversion of the Westminster system of \u2018ministerial accountability\u2019 and the creation of a new normal where Mr Morrison decides who gets what based solely on his political ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Shadow Minister for government accountability Kristina Keneally. Image: Twitter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Labor has sought assurances from the government<\/a> the manufacturing grants will be awarded based on merit and follow the Department\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n

The concern follows several partisan spending scandals involving the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, the latest being about the $660m commuter car park fund which the National Audit Office found was administered based on the advice of MPs and election candidates rather than merit.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Ms Keneally used a speech to Deakin University\u2019s accountability and rule of law workshop to single out the manufacturing program as one of 22 government \u201cslush funds\u201d worth \u201cbillions of dollars\u201d to be spent at the discretion of the Minister.<\/p>\n

She said the coalition is normalising the \u201crorting\u201d of public funds because Mr Morrison believes \u201cit is a sure-fire way to get re-elected\u201d even though it damages the rule of law in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Morrison will continue to treat taxpayer money like it is Liberal Party money because his only goal is re-election.\u00a0 He does not care what damage he does along the way \u2013 which communities miss out on much needed support or infrastructure \u2013 as long as he gets to stay in The Lodge,” Ms Keneally said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I said \u2013 they break the rules they don\u2019t care about, and they change the rules they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labor\u2019s solution is to \u201creplace the carrot with a stick\u201d and establish a Federal Anti-Corruption Commission, which Ms Keneally promised would be much more robust than the \u201ctoothless\u201d version the Coalition has proposed but is yet to establish.<\/p>\n

The post Govt \u2018baking-in\u2019 rorts to $800m manufacturing grants<\/a> appeared first on InnovationAus<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on InnovationAus<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The coalition government\u2019s $800 million manufacturing grants program will be used as a slush fund in the run up to the next election, Labor has warned, after it was revealed the Prime Minister will have final say on where the money goes. The Opposition is raising the alarm about the grants program \u2013 the collaboration…<\/p>\n

The post Govt \u2018baking-in\u2019 rorts to $800m manufacturing grants<\/a> appeared first on InnovationAus<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3272,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3262,9118,1892,30554],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247660,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247659\/revisions\/247660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}