On
3 July 2020 a NSW Legislative Council committeee, the Public
Accountability Committee (PAC), began an Inquiry
into the Integrity, efficacy and value for money of NSW Government
grant programs.
Thus
far public hearings have been held on 21 September, 16 October and 23
October 2020 with further hearing dates scheduled for 27 November and
9 December 2020.
Six of the seven local government councils in the NSW Northern Rivers
region – Tweed Shire, Richmond Valley, Ballina, Kyogle, Lismore and
Clarence Valley - made submissions to the Inquiry outlining both
satisfaction and frustration with the current grants system. These
submission can be found here.
The
Inquiry’s public hearings to date have generated media interest
given these followed on the heels of the NSW Independent
Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Operation
Keppel public hearings which revealed the six year intimate
relationship between NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maquire
both when he was a member of her government and after his forced
resignation from state parliament in 2018.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
21 October 2020:
Senior
advisers from Gladys Berejiklian's office have been called before a
parliamentary inquiry to explain why the NSW Premier handed out $250
million in council grants without any signed paperwork.
The
grants scheme is emerging as a major issue for Ms Berejiklian on the
back of her appearance before the corruption watchdog, which is
investigating her ex-lover Daryl Maguire.
Ms
Berejiklian will know the direction of findings from the Independent
Commission Against Corruption on December 7, when submissions from
counsel assisting are sent to "relevant parties".
In
an unusual move, Ms Berejiklian's former chief of staff Sarah
Cruickshank and present senior policy officer Sarah Lau will give
evidence to the public accountability committee on Friday.
Ms
Cruickshank also gave evidence at the ICAC hearing into Mr Maguire,
which is investigating whether he used his position as an MP for
financial gain, including brokering property deals.
Finance
Minister Damien Tudehope has confirmed that no signed approvals exist
for 249 grants rubber-stamped between June 27, 2018 and March 1, 2019
from the Stronger Communities Fund, established after council
amalgamations.
Ms
Lau was the author of emails such as one sent on June 28, 2018 which
said: "The Premier has signed off further funding for metro
councils. Outlined below is what is been approved."
Ms
Berejiklian directly approved more than $100 million in grants, but
the only records of her approvals are in the form of emails from
advisers.
Staff
in Deputy Premier John Barilaro's office also emailed approvals,
including one dated August 24, 2018 which said: "The DP has
approved funding of $600,000 to Edward River Council."
But
Mr Barilaro, who returned from four weeks' mental health leave on
Wednesday, distanced himself from the fund, and said "everything
was correct" in a similar fund for regional councils.
"The
Stronger Communities fund is not a fund that I administer. The
Stronger Country Communities fund is something that I administer
under my department in regional NSW," Mr Barilaro said.
"There's
an allocation made to every single local government area so it's not
the beauty contest that we normally get, everybody gets a slice of
the fund."…...
The
government was dealt a humiliating blow late on Tuesday when its most
senior minister of the upper house was suspended from Parliament in a
rare move last used more than 20 years ago.
Leader
of the government Don Harwin was removed from the chamber by the
Usher of the Black Rod over a failure to produce documents showing
signed paperwork relating to the grants.
Labor's
leader in the upper house Adam Searle told Parliament the
government's failure to produce signed approvals could amount to
"maladministration, corruption or illegality"…...
The
grants, which Labor's MP John Graham told the house were worth
"two-and-a-half times the federal sports rorts" scandal,
were distributed almost exclusively to councils in Coalition-held
seats…...
The
head of ICAC Peter Hall QC has said the methods used by the
government in its administration of the council grants fund could
open the door for corrupt conduct.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
20 October 2020:
An
inquiry wants answers as to whether Premier Gladys Berejiklian
declared a conflict of interest in her position on a committee that
signed off on $30 million for a Wagga Wagga conservatorium following
lobbying by former MP Daryl Maguire.
The
NSW upper house inquiry into allegations of grant rorting on Friday
heard the the Regional Cultural Fund awarded $10 million and $20
million to the Riverina Conservatorium of Music, for the construction
of a new recital hall, in 2017 and 2018.
Chris
Hanger from the Department of Regional NSW said the latter portion
was a pre-byelection commitment from the government following the
exit of Wagga MP Mr Maguire, who resigned in disgrace after a
corruption inquiry heard he sought commissions from a developer.
After
Mr Hanger testified that the funding was signed off by the
Expenditure Review Committee, of which Ms Berejiklian is a part,
Greens MLC David Shoebridge asked, "are you aware whether or not
a conflict of interest was ever placed on the record by the Premier,
given she was in a close personal relationship with Mr Maguire?…..
Jonathan
Wheaton, executive director of regional programs at the department,
told the parliamentary inquiry that, given the ERC was a subcommittee
of the cabinet, he was unsure whether that level of information could
be shared publicly.
The
Sydney Morning Herald has sought comment from the Premier's office
about whether or not she was obliged to declare a conflict of
interest, and whether or not she had…..
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
23
October 2020:
Gladys
Berejiklian gave her lover Daryl Maguire's Wagga Wagga electorate six
grants totalling $40,000 from her discretionary fund, while an
inquiry heard one of her advisers shredded documents showing the
Premier's approval of projects under another scheme.
In
a parliamentary speech made before resigning from the Liberal Party
in disgrace in 2018, Mr Maguire thanked Ms Berejiklian for providing
$5134 from the special fund to the Ladysmith Tourist Railway, near
the regional city, to cover the cost of replacing railway sleepers
stolen by "scoundrels".
"It
was a cowardly act to steal the sleepers, but I thank the Premier for
helping to replace them," Mr Maguire said in June, also
announcing the receipt of $5000 for the erection of a memorial to
World War I Victoria Cross recipient Jack Ryan in Tumut. That money
had also come from the fund.
Other
grants included $10,400 for the Wagga branch of the Sporting Shooters
Association of Australia for a firearm cleaning safety enclosure,
which Mr Maguire announced to local media in October 2017, and $5000
towards the Talbingo Men's Shed……
ABC News, 23 October 2020:
Documents which Premier Gladys Berejiklian used to approve millions of dollars in grants to local councils were later shredded, a NSW parliamentary inquiry has heard.
One of the Premier's senior policy advisers, Sarah Lau, told the inquiry she also deleted electronic copies of the notes.....
Nearly all the grants were awarded to local councils in Coalition-held seats.
The inquiry heard that $141.8 million of the grant funding was allocated by the Premier, with $61.3million allocated by the Deputy Premier John Barilaro and $48.9 million by the Minister for Local Government.
In
addition to the ICAC and PAC inquiries, the NSW Auditor General
has announced
an intention to review a selections of grant programs and,
the Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre has also announced a
new project regarding grant programs, highlighting the need
to better understand key fraud risks and learn about effective fraud
prevention methods particularly given there are elevated integrity
risks for government grants in times of crisis or emergency.
