The head of NSW’s anti-corruption watchdog has said he wants a “pig’s mouth” to be banned from politics, after a public forum heard that the practice was taking place on an “industrial scale”.
The Independent Anti-Corruption Commission on Friday unveiled a $ 250 million Berejiklian government grant plan as a blatant example of politicians using taxpayers’ money to buy votes.
Tens of millions of dollars went out the door of the Fund for the Strongest Communities, in a splash of pre-election cash, 96 per cent of which reached the coalition seats.
The head of NSW’s anti-corruption watchdog has said he wants a “pig’s mouth” to be banned from politics, after a public forum heard that the practice was taking place on an “industrial scale”. (9 News)
Although the hearing was not intended to investigate specific programs or the conduct of individuals, ICAC Chief Commissioner Peter Hall highlighted the board’s grant fund, which has already been reviewed by the Auditor. General.
“The only reason, the only purpose of this exercise was political or electoral,” he said at the hearing.
When asked about the scheme in November 2020, then-Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian infamously stated that pork barrel “is not illegal”.
Outside Parliament, when asked if he wanted pork barrels to be illegal, Peter Hall said it was “the way forward”. (9 News)
Hall said there had been “a lot of … misinformation out there about whether it’s okay, normal or not.”
Outside Parliament, when asked if he wanted pork barrels to be illegal, Peter Hall said it was “the way forward”.
But he would not dare to know if any new law could be applied in retrospect.
Griffith University professor AJ Brown told the audience that “the barrel of pork can be an election bribe.”
“What has been exposed … is pork, and I’m very happy to accept the pejorative definition of this, on an industrial scale.”
Constitutional law professor Anne Twomey told the audience she was “horrible on two levels.”
“One, it was an accusation about the integrity of government behavior, but secondly, I say it as a former civil servant, it was horrible, just in terms of the terrible public administration,” he said.
“Politicians should be a little more concerned than before.”
A labor bill aimed at tightening controls on the administration of subsidies has already passed in the upper house of the state parliament, and will be debated in the lower house next week.