Prime Minister Scott Morrison says role was in giving authority on grant announcements

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has claimed the role of his office in the controversial Community Sport Infrastructure Grant Program prior to the last Federal election was in making sure then Federal Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie had authority to make election announcements about sports grants rather than decisions about which clubs were to receive them.

Prime Minister Morrison’s response followed new evidence from the Australian National Audit Office presented to the Senate that week that his office had asked Senator McKenzie to seek his authority for $100 million in grants.

Speaking in Parliament today, Prime Minister Morrison dismissed suggestions he had misled the body in February by saying "there was no authorisation provided by me as prime minister on the projects".

He advised “the authority for making the decisions in relation to that program was the minister for sport. That is the fact.

"The only authority sought from the prime minister's office and for myself was in relation to announcements."

The Senate committee investigating the sports grants funding today resolved to invite Senator McKenzie and the former Sport Australia official Robin O’Neill, who left his role as Executive Director, Strategy and Partnerships in October last year after 19 months, to its inquiry, set to resume in June.

Prime Morrison has always claimed the former Senator McKenzie was solely responsible for the $100m of grants, despite 136 emails between their offices about the program, 15 of which attached lists of intended recipients and a flurry of late changes made with input from Prime Minister Morrison’s office after Senator McKenzie signed the final brief on 4th April 2019.

On Monday, Prime Minister Morrison denied misleading parliament over the sports grants but is yet to explain whether proper authority existed for 11 late changes made after the 2019 election was called on 11th April and the government entered the caretaker period.

As reported by Guardian Australia, legal academic Anne Twomey has suggested that Senator McKenzie denying she made changes after 4th April raises the prospect that somebody else made late changes to the grants without legal authority.

Image: Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Australian Open.