Prime Minister Scott Morrison authorised the use of $15 million taxpayer funds to upgrade a commuter car park simply by issuing a press release along with five other Liberal MPs saying it would happen. The project, one of 47 funded in a program slammed by the auditor-general for being opaque and failing to award funds based on merit, has since been cancelled. Former Finance Department deputy secretary Stephen Bartos said the use of a press release to allocate money was “appalling governance”, even though it was within the law.

Source: ‘Really bad practice’: Car park project chosen by Morrison press release