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| Leslie Williams Liberal MP & former Nationals MP for Port Macquarie since 26 March 2011 IMAGE: Manning River Times, 4 Feb 2015 |
The Saturday Paper, 26 February 2022:
Less than a month after New South Wales Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams sensationally quit the National Party to join the Liberals, the defector was in direct conversations with then treasurer Dominic Perrottet’s office about a controversial $5 million grant to a private nursing home in her electorate.
The building project – for a new community centre, as part of a wider redevelopment of the St Agnes’ Care and Lifestyle facility in the coastal town that gives the state seat its name – was not part of any NSW government program. It was not on the radar of any official, or recommended by bureaucrats. Senior Treasury officials warned the state government’s powerful expenditure review committee (ERC) that the funding made no sense and should not be supported.
Instead, exactly one week after Leslie Williams forwarded details of the aged-care company’s development application to Perrottet’s ministerial staff, the $5 million grant was approved by the ERC, which was led by Perrottet and then premier Gladys Berejiklian.
The money was not new funding. It had to be found from elsewhere in the Health budget. As the coronavirus pandemic raged, the $5 million was taken from the Department of Health’s general spending budget and handed to St Agnes’ Care and Lifestyle for capital works on land owned by the Roman Catholic Church Diocese of Lismore. At the time, the-aged care operator had $34.7 million “cash on hand” and had received $3.1 million in federal JobKeeper funds.
The funding proposal that went to the ERC was blunt in its assessment of the project. Under the heading “risks, sensitivities and any other issues”, Treasury officials wrote that the grant was “not supported”.
The document prepared for the review committee said: “The proposal provides financial support for the establishment of a private residential aged-care facility. Given funding and regulation of aged care is a matter for the Commonwealth government, and the benefits accrue to the private residents and operator of the facility, the need for government support is unclear.”
As it happens, the decision had already been made. Hours before the ERC meeting actually took place, public servants were given the job of writing a press release for the announcement.
A week later, on October 27, 2020, Berejiklian was in Port Macquarie posing for a ceremonial sod-turning at the development site next to newly minted Liberal MP Leslie Williams. The official press release, now absent from the NSW government directory but still hosted by Williams on her MP website, includes quotes from the then premier and her treasurer.
“Port Macquarie has one of the highest prevalence rates of dementia in NSW and this state-of-the-art facility will offer transformational care for the elderly,” Berejiklian said.
And from Perrottet: “We expect this unique project, which is a NSW first, to create hundreds of jobs in the health, building and construction industries on the mid-North Coast.
What is clear from the time line of events is that the government, with negotiations handled out of the then treasurer’s office, moved quickly to rush through the $5 million in funding. This raised eyebrows internally.
“The aged-care sector is poised to grow substantially in NSW, contributing to jobs growth and the economy but as Covid events have shown us, quality of care is paramount.”
The ERC brief from Treasury did not put a figure on the jobs created, noting only that it was “TBD” or “to be disclosed”.
Williams, naturally, was thrilled. At the time, she said: “The NSW government’s investment will help build the community centre in the village, which houses all the social amenities that make this facility unique.”
St Agnes’ Care and Lifestyle chief executive Adam Spencer remarked that “both Ms Williams and the premier have been very supportive of this project”…..
