Nearly three-quarters of Australian Labor's A$560 million infrastructure funding flowed to Labor electorates, Greens push for Senate inquiry

According to ABC News, the Australian Labor government's A$560 million "Major and Local Community Infrastructure" (MLCI) funding program has heavily favoured governing party electorates in its allocation. An analysis by the Centre for Public Integrity of 220 invited projects shows that three-quarters of the funds flowed to electorates nominally held by Labor before the 2025 federal election, while 45 electorates—including Hume, held by opposition leader Angus Taylor, and New England, held by Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce—received nothing under the program.

According to ABC News, Labor itself had seven electorates that received nothing, covering safe seats including Rankin, held by Treasurer Jim Chalmers; Sydney, held by Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek; and McMahon, held by Cabinet minister Chris Bowen. However, the total distribution of funds was highly uneven: more than A$220 million went to competitive marginal electorates held by Labor, A$270 million flowed to Labor electorates with varying degrees of safety, while electorates where Labor had no competitiveness received only A$66 million. Centre for Public Integrity chair and former judge Anthony Whealy stated bluntly that this appears to be a case of "serious pork-barrelling."

One of the most high-profile projects is the A$6 million funding received by Marrickville Golf Club, located in the Grayndler electorate held by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. ABC News previously revealed that Albanese held honorary membership at the club but never disclosed this. Albanese responded in the House of Representatives that he was granted the membership in 2012 but did not have a membership card and had not set foot in the premises for many years.

According to ABC News, the electorate receiving the most funding was Hawke, held by Labor MP Sam Rae, with two projects receiving a total of A$27.5 million, most of which went to a new swimming centre. Eden-Monaro, held by New South Wales Labor MP Kristy McBain, received funding for eight projects totalling A$26.47 million, the largest single amount going to a new pool in Bega. The largest single project was the A$45 million redevelopment of the Nunawading indoor sports centre, spanning the Chisholm electorate, held by Labor with a 3.3% margin, and the Deakin electorate, where the Liberal Party holds a near-negligible margin.

Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May will on Thursday push for the Senate to refer the MLCI program to an inquiry, focusing on examining project design, the selection process, and the role of the Prime Minister and ministers in determining which applicants are invited, as well as scrutinising whether recipients have potential or perceived conflicts of interest.

"This, on its face, is a significant misuse of public funds and warrants scrutiny," Hodgins-May said. She noted that the A$6 million flowing to a golf club in the Prime Minister's electorate poses significant questions for the Prime Minister that need to be answered. "He's given some wishy-washy answers that, frankly, I think are sidestepping the core issue here, [which] is why was that money expended there?"

According to ABC News, independent Senator David Pocock on Tuesday questioned Finance Minister Katy Gallagher about whether election commitments were excessively concentrated on marginal electorates and how that differs from pork-barrelling. Gallagher defended the funding, saying it "covers everything, including seats we don't hold and never will hold." "If you think you can demonstrate that our commitments were targeted on marginal seats, you do that. Now, unfortunately for those that seek to smear on this program, we have followed every single rule to the letter."

Centre for Public Integrity research and strategy director Gabrielle Appleby countered that the government has still not explained why it chose a closed process to manage the A$560 million in funding, nor how it decided which projects were eligible to apply. "A value-for-money assessment after a project has been hand-picked doesn't tell us whether the hand-picking itself was fair," Appleby said.

According to ABC News, the federal government has said it has provided more than A$1.7 billion in funding through other competitive grant programs, but as an "invitation-based" closed process, the selection criteria for the MLCI have never been publicly disclosed.