Ozschwitz: Minister calls for inquiry into corrupt regional grants

THE Federal Government has moved quickly to undertake a forensic investigation of millions of dollars in regional grants after The Sun-Herald raised questions.

Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese wrote to the House of Representatives' infrastructure committee on Friday asking for a parliamentary inquiry to be established.

The formal inquiry would seek to flesh out an Auditor-General's report released in November which concluded the Coalition had fast-tracked grants between 2003 and 2006 for electoral gain.

The audit found 43 projects - 38 in Coalition seats - were approved under the regional partnerships program against departmental advice. Some were approved even before applications were lodged.

The Sun-Herald revealed two weeks ago that one of the projects given the go-ahead in 2004 - for an ethanol project in Gunnedah - has infuriated locals because it has never been built. After the revelation, the recipient of the $1.1-million grant, Matthew Kelley from Primary Energy, said he would return the money to the Government.

Mr Albanese told The Sun-Herald it was clear that many questions remained unanswered about the disbursement of funds under the $400-million program. "One is what happened to the $1.1 million of taxpayers' funds for an ethanol plant in Gunnedah that doesn't exist," he said.

In an unusual move, Mr Albanese will seek approval from Parliament to co-opt the independent MP, Tony Windsor, onto the 10-member, cross-party committee. His secondment is guaranteed, as Labor has the majority in the lower house.

Yesterday Mr Windsor said: "We have to drill down. We have to be able to establish the cash flow of a lot of these grants. Because the grants haven't been audited correctly, we can't actually trace the flow of money and determine what individuals actually got a lot of the money.

"I don't think the probity process has been good enough."

LNK

Jail the motherfuckers, one and all!

Ozschwitz: Minister calls for inquiry into corrupt regional grants

Ozschwitz: Minister calls for inquiry into corrupt regional grants

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