Labor attacks regional grants program that delivered 96% of funding to Coalition-held seats

Former government’s Regional Growth Fund delivered 16 projects in Coalition-held electorates and one in a Labor-held seat

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Labor has taken aim at a regional grants program that delivered 96% of its $272m of funding to Coalition-held electorates, despite projects being selected through an open, competitive process.

Julian Hill, the chair of the parliament’s audit committee, said “the so-called Regional Growth Fund was yet another giant rorted slush fund”, delivering 16 projects in Coalition-held electorates and just one in a Labor-held seat, the Coalition target of Lingiari.

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