Tabled in state parliament on Wednesday morning,the report warned the scheme risked the state’s AAA credit rating and the previous government had conducted “no business case or other economic analysis” before it announced its plan to use billions of dollars in proceeds from the partial sale of the WestConnex motorway to fund the scheme.
It revealed wide-ranging probity issues with the fund,including during its design,when officials in the NSW Treasury Department were only given a week to develop the grants program before it was publicly announced by then-premier Gladys Berejiklian and then-treasurer Dominic Perrottet.
The $5 billion fund was split into three streams between government agencies,local councils and community groups. The largest,a $3 billion allocation open to NSW government agencies,was subject to a series of guidelines established by the NSW Treasury at “considerable effort”.
However,the auditor found that “in most cases,the advice was not followed by the then-treasurer” Matt Kean,and no documentation was kept to explain the changes.
Of 27 projects funded under that part of the grants scheme,one-third,valued about $1.1 billion,were assessed as having “low or moderate merit”.
While the audit was less critical of the $1.6 billion community projects,it also pointed to examples where Kean had intervened to add additional funding to local government areas in an apparent bid to balance out where money was allocated.
In one example,however,the auditor found Kean’s office requested that an Olympic ice rink upgrade in the Canterbury LGA be given $17.7 million. The request was made on the same day Labor made an election commitment to pay for its own upgrade of the rink.
“This is part of the reasons why that government lost[the election] … The public is sick and tired of politicians playing politics with their money.”
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey