Skewed: How grants with ministerial discretion are biased towards Coalition seats
Grants with ministerial discretion skew towards Coalition seats
This week the Australia Institute released the biggest most comprehensive analysis of federal government grants programs ever undertaken, which revealed that $3.9 billion spent by federal grants programs with ministerial discretion has clearly skewed towards marginal Coalition seats in particular, at the expense of safe Labor seats and, to a lesser extent, safe Coalition seats. It’s public money, but there is little transparency about how it is spent or who gets the money.
Recorded live on 30 November 2021, things may have changed since recording.
The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute
Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett
Guests:
Bill Browne, senior researcher, Democracy & Accountablity program // @Browne90
Hannah Melville-Rea, Anne Kantor Fellow // @HannahMelRea
Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey
Theme Music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
Related research
Between the Lines Newsletter
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight.
You might also like
One Nation’s rise gives progressive voters unexpected power in ‘safe’ Coalition seats
The rise of One Nation creates a surprising opportunity for progressive voters.
Landslide Labor win out of proportion to primary vote
Labor won nearly two-thirds of all the seats in the House of Representatives with just over a third of first preferences.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Why we’re all the losers from the hate speech fracas
The biggest loser in the political brinkmanship Anthony Albanese and Labor lured Sussan Ley and the Liberals into with the hate group legislation no one wanted is, as always, the public.