Sleight Of Hand

The ERC members are Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg, Simon Birmingham, Anne Ruston, Peter Dutton, Dan Tehan, Stuart Robert, Barnaby Joyce and Bridget McKenzie.

A closer look at the 2021 grants suggests not, as does the track record of the ERC members.

For a start, while Labor seats appear to score more money than Coalition seats, there were more than twice as many Coalition grants – 102 to 46.

That raises the suspicion that Labor seats had a few large grants that don’t quite fit the “pork barrel” definition.

For example, the biggest single CDG last year was $33 million that went to the Labor-held seat of Perth.

It went to the Western Australian Cricket Association – it was for rebuilding the WACA.

That’s a bigger-picture investment than the local electorate.

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Source: Michael Pascoe: More of same in 2021 with community grants corruption