Despite much hype, the Minister who brought Australians Sports Rorts has today failed to bring any clarity to the Morrison-Joyce Government’s approach to regionalisation.
The centrepiece of the Minister’s new policy seems to be a plan to hand some money to a handpicked list of regional centres around Australia.
You’ll have to forgive Labor’s scepticism, but this sounds less like a plan for equitable and sustainable regional development and more like a scheme for more pork-barrelling and more regional rorts.
Currently, the centrepiece of the Morrison-Joyce Government’s regional agenda is the Building Better Regions Fund (BBRF). This is the same scheme that over the last three years has delivered over 90 per cent of its funding, totalling over $1 billion, to Coalition held or target seats.
Despite currently holding over a third of BBRF-eligible seats, Labor-held electorates have received only 14 per cent of the funding made available.
At the same time, the ANAO has reported that 55 per cent of regional grants have gone to city-based projects.
So much for the Nationals’ claims to be the party of the regions.
If the Morrison-Joyce Government wants to get serious about regionalisation, they should do more than copy Labor’s language, they should have a good look at our policy ideas too.
FRIDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2021
CATHERINE KING – MEDIA RELEASE – AN EMPTY “PLAN” FOR REGIONALISATION FROM THE MINISTER WHO BROUGHT YOU SPORTS RORTS – FRIDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2021
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2021