The Commuter Car Park fund,the Building Better Regions Fund,the Safer Communities program,the Urban Congestion Fund,the Regional Growth Fund and the Modern Manufacturing Initiative will all come under the focus of the audit committee.
Labor MP Julian Hill,the committee chairman,said the inquiry wanted to ensure future grant programs were consistent with federal grant rules and in line with community expectations.
“The government inherited a budget riddled with waste and rorts. Dodgy grants have further inflated nearly $1 trillion of debt,” he said.
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“As a good government,we will uncover what’s happened and learn the lessons of the past so every taxpayer dollar spent is properly approved and delivers real value for the community.”
The programs,worth a combined $7.2 billion,have come under scrutiny through a series of auditor-general reports or special investigations.
The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age revealed last year that grant programs were being used to funnel money into Coalition-held seats or those it hoped to win from Labor. That included large disparities in total grants between neighbouring seats where one electorate was held by the Coalition and the other by Labor.