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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he gave Governor-General David Hurley a heads-up the government would cancel an $18 million grant to a leadership program the viceroy had backed.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The program intended initially to take 120 participants from government and private sectors,including academic,not-for-profit and corporate,and transform them into “accomplished alumni who will be uniquely placed to pursue Australia’s national interests through their roles as future leaders”.

Yet it had no staff beyond founder Chris Hartley,no offices,no website and no phone number,Senate estimates heard in April.

Albanese confirmed on Thursday the funding had been scrapped as his government searched for budget savings and worked out where the Morrison administration had stashed funds.

He said the program was “not worthy of proceeding with” and the government had to make difficult decisions.

“The governor-general was an advocate of this program,” he said. “I make no criticism of the governor-general whatsoever. And I indeed informed the governor-general of my government’s position,as a matter of courtesy to him and out of respect for him.

“But we will be going through line-by-line,getting rid of rorts and waste that have dominated the budget,that were a part of the trillion dollars of Liberal Party debt.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the grant “obviously doesn’t pass muster”.

The governor-general’s official secretary Paul Singer told estimates in April that Hurley had recognised the program would need bipartisan support and consulted the then-prime minister Scott Morrison and opposition leader Albanese about it.

Labor maintains the first it knew about the program’s funding was on budget night.

Former Coalition finance minister Simon Birmingham has said he remembered seeing the proposal because it was unusual to have a budget initiative that cited consultation with the governor-general.

The ABCreported in April that brochures promoting the program in 2021 claimed vice-regal and government backing.

Jacqui Lambie Network senator Tammy Tyrrell intends to ask the Senate on Monday to overturn the legal underpinning for the program,pointing out that while she’s pleased the funding has been cancelled,the legal structure to put money into the scheme still exists.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at this and figure out something’s a bit off,” she said.

“But there’s still a lot of unanswered questions about this. If I was given $18 million of taxpayer money with no details or business plan,the public would expect me to tell them what was going on.”

Independent MP Monique Ryan has also given notice she wants to disallow the legal instrument. She asked Albanese about the program in question time.

Labor MP Julian Hill,who previously saidthe governor-general’s position may be untenable over his role in allowing Morrison to secretly take on multiple ministerial powers,said there were still questions around the grant process.

“I’m glad that the government has cancelled the grant both because of the murky circumstances and also to protect the office of the governor-general from being further embroiled if the program had run,” he said.

“That said,many people are left scratching their heads wondering how it got that far under Scott Morrison and no doubt it will be an issue of interest in Senate estimates.”

Senator Tim Ayres said there had been a breakdown in governance and “their addiction to secrecy and lack of accountability meant that everything the Morrison government touched turned to custard”.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.

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