The sports grant rort uncovered by the Australian National Audit Office last week is far worse than traditional pork-barrelling and equates to political corruption. It again underlines the urgent need for a strong and independent national integrity commission to hold politicians and public servants accountable to the public interest.

Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie says an audit into her sports grants program found no rules were broken. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

On Wednesday, the Audit Office released a report on the operation of a $100 million community sports grant program. It found that in determining grants then sports minister Bridget McKenzie’s office “drew upon considerations other than those identified in the program guidelines” and applied “considerations inconsistent with the published guidelines”.

In the third round of funding, 167 – or 73 per cent of the "approved projects" – had not been recommended by Sport Australia, the that administers the grant program. The Auditor-General concluded the award of funding “was not consistent with the assessed merit of applications” and “reflected the approach documented by the Minister’s Office of focusing on ‘marginal’ electorates held by the Coalition as well as those electorates held by other parties or independent members that were to be ‘targeted’ by the Coalition at the 2019 Election”.

In other words, the Auditor-General, an independent officer of Parliament, is saying the minister sought to prioritise the electoral benefits for the government over the sporting infrastructure benefits for the community.