Federal Government blocks release of 'sports rorts' report

The Federal Government is blocking release of a report by Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Phil Gaetjens into the misallocation of funds within the $100 million Community Sports Infrastructure Grant program, widely known as the ‘sports rorts’ affair.

As reported by the Guardian Australia, Secretary Gaetjens’ report was never published despite requests for its release under Freedom of Information laws.

With a summary of the report having revealed findings that there were ‘significant shortcomings’ in the way former Federal Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie decided on grant allocations, multiple applications for the findings to be released through are being denied based on confidentiality, with submissions from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet arguing that the document is covered by cabinet-in-confidence, exempting it from release through FoI.

The Federal Government’s refusal to release the report is now being considered by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

The Department said in a June 2020 submission to the OAIC, released to applicants in the past week, that the document was submitted to the governance committee of cabinet, and was brought into existence for the dominant purpose of submission for consideration by the governance committee of cabinet, and is therefore exempt as a document submitted to cabinet.

In a separate September 2020 submission, the Department also argued the report was prepared to provide advice to the governance committee of cabinet, and therefore would reveal cabinet deliberations.

It has also been revealed that the staff member from the Prime Minister’s office was involved in sports rorts allocations was also involved in deciding which projects were funded under the $660 million commuter car park fund.

In evidence to a parliamentary committee on Monday, the Australian National Audit Office outlined how the Federal Government awarded funding under the scheme by preparing a list of 20 top marginal seats, and inviting the sitting MP to nominate projects for funding.

The Senate hearing comes after a damning audit report found that not one of the 47 commuter car park sites promised by the Coalition at the 2019 election was selected by the infrastructure department, with projects selected by the government in a process that “was not demonstrably merit-based”.

Image: Senator Bridget McKenzie at the Wangarrata Clay Target Club, to whom she allocated funds from the Community Sports Infrastructure Grant program while a member. Credit: Facebook.