Former Turnbull cabinet minister Darren Chester has slammed a $1 billion government slush fund over its lack of transparency after Fairfax Media revealed hundreds of millions of dollars were going to marginal electorates while safe seats missed out.
Mr Chester, who was controversially dumped from cabinet in a pre-Christmas reshuffle by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, lashed the "Community Development Grants" program on Saturday over its opaque funding allocations.
"It's not the projects that are funded which are always the issue, it's the ones which miss out," he said.
"[The] lack of transparency on grant allocations is undermining public trust in our system of government."
Mr Chester said the history of short-term election sweeteners with no long-term planning was further eroding the electorate's faith in the system.
The comments suggest a push for change to the scheme distributed at the ministers' discretion among some circles within the Coalition, while Labor's regional development spokesman, Stephen Jones, has called for the establishment of a competitive tender process.
Mr Chester's comments could further inflame tensions further with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. The Nationals leader dumped Mr Chester in the December reshuffle in favour of rookie MPs David Littleproud and John McVeigh and took over his portfolio.
Despite being on a safe seat of more than 30 per cent, Mr Joyce has the third highest rate of funding in the country, taking in $28 million since 2014.
In the lead up to the New England bylection in December, his electorate received a $2 million grant for a landing system at Tamworth Airport, following a $500,000 grant for an aged care facility in July and an $8.5 million boost for a new equestrian, athletics, cycling centre and indoor sporting centre in August.
Mr Chester, the Victorian MP for Gippsland, was one of the only other safe seat holders to be a beneficiary of the scheme.
Since 2014 his electorate has scored $4.2 million in grants for new change rooms and toilets at the Adelaide Hills soccer club and Mallacoota Reserve, wetland maintenance and designs for a new waste energy facility.
Mr Chester briefly acted as the minister responsible for the $624 million in grants after taking over from his colleague Fiona Nash.
Both Nationals are now out of Cabinet after the High Court ruled former Senator Nash ineligible for office in October over her dual citizenship, leaving first-term MP John McVeigh in charge of the widely criticised scheme.
On Saturday, Fairfax Media revealed that for every dollar spent on a safe seat the Coalition had spent proportionally three times more in marginal seats while awarding 70 per cent of all grants to Coalition seats for projects such as war memorials, toilets and playgrounds.
Under Labor, the proportion of grants to marginal seats blew out to six to one and independents holding the balance of power received 5.5 per cent of the total grant budget while representing just 0.025 per cent of the population.
The Australian National Audit Office has announced it will be investigating the Coalition's administration of the scheme after condemning Labor's program in 2014.
It is set to hand down its report this year.
Do you know more? eryk.bagshaw@fairfaxmedia.com.au
- with Lucas Baird
