Former Minister for Sport Senator Bridget McKenzie will face the inquiry into the Sports Rorts scandal, after the Senate yesterday backed Labor’s move to hold the Morrison Government accountable for its shameless misuse of public funds.
The Senate took the unprecedented step of voting to direct Senator Bridget McKenzie to appear before the Select Committee on Administration of Sports Grants no later than 12 February 2021 to answer questions about her handling of the Community Sport Infrastructure Grants Program and Scott Morrison’s involvement.
The Select Committee had previously requested Senator McKenzie appear as a witness on no less than six occasions, but she declined every time.
Scott Morrison tried to hide his own involvement by making Senator McKenzie his scapegoat. But no longer being a Minister because you’ve breached Ministerial Standards should not allow former ministers to avoid appropriate scrutiny.
Predictably, the Morrison Government voted against transparency and accountably, suggesting Senator McKenzie should not have to front the inquiry because there was no precedent of the Senate compelling a former Minister to appear.
The Morrison Government’s unprecedented rorting of what was meant to be a competitive, merit-assessed grants program and its attempts to avoid scrutiny require an unprecedented solution.
Labor looks forward to the Morrison Government cooperating completely with the Senate inquiry so those responsible for Sports Rorts can be held accountable and measures put in place to make sure such shameless rorting never occurs again.