Barilaro’s office steered bushfire recovery funds away from Labor-held seats: audit office

However, bushfire-hit areas such as the Blue Mountains missed out on funding after Barilaro’s office changed the rules, which the auditor-general said led to “the exclusion of all projects in electorates held by the Labor Party”.

Without any documentation or records of conversations, Barilaro’s office ruled there would be a $1 million threshold on projects. That change ultimately meant 21 out of 22 projects above the $1 million threshold would be funded in Coalition seats. Any projects under that figure were excluded without explanation.

John Barilaro has been in the headlines since leaving office.Credit:Kate Geraghty

“It is important to note that most of the highest-impacted local government areas were either wholly or primarily in electorates represented by Coalition members,” the report said.

“However, there were three highly impacted local government areas in Labor-held electorates, including Blue Mountains City Council and Tenterfield Shire Council. Projects in these two areas were excluded from the fast-tracked stream due to the $1 million threshold.”

The report also questioned why the Department of Regional NSW provided details to Barilaro’s office of which electorates the projects were in.

Loading

“It is not clear why the department provided this advice given that electorates were not intended to be relevant to the assessment process,” the report said.

Barilaro did not respond to requests for comment.

The office of his successor, Deputy Premier Paul Toole, referred questions to the Department of Regional NSW. A department spokesperson said the fast-tracked stream fund was developed to “get bushfire funding to affected communities as quickly as possible”.

“Many projects that were not funded in that fast-tracked round were subsequently funded under other programs that were better suited to those types of projects,” the spokesperson said.

Loading

Premier Dominic Perrottet, who was treasurer at the time of the grants program, said on Thursday he was yet to read the report but that his government had always directed funding to affected communities.

Asked if his government pork-barrelled bushfire grants, the premier responded: “Not at all.”

“I think in terms of the recovery that we put together, it was nation-leading,” he said. “Obviously, I will consider that report and where there are areas to be improved, we will.

“As treasurer during that period of time, [the government gave] $4 billion in support to help our communities get back on their feet. We’ve always made sure we get funding out the door as quickly as possible.”

Loading

Barilaro, who was embroiled in the US trade appointment scandal last year, used to boast about his nickname Pork Barilaro, saying it was “a name that I’ve never distanced myself from because I’m actually proud of … what it represents”.

“What we call pork-barrelling is investment … I dare you to turn up to these communities and tell them why they don’t deserve these projects,” Barilaro told a parliamentary inquiry in 2021.

Former premier Gladys Berejiklian also said pork-barrelling was “not an illegal practice” and all governments make commitments “in order to curry favour”. Perrottet has vowed to end the practice in NSW.

The Stronger Communities Grant Fund was a major issue for the government, with $250 million given to councils in Coalition-held electorates in the lead-up to the 2019 election and revelations that documents in Berejiklian’s office had been shredded.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption last year warned pork-barrelling could amount to criminal corruption under existing NSW laws and the government’s proposed guidelines to tackle the misallocation of grant funding are insufficient.

The audit office was also highly critical of the Department of Regional NSW, saying it “did not effectively administer the fast-tracked stream of the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery program”.

“The department’s assessment process was inconsistent, poorly documented and lacked transparency,” the report said.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.