It has been designed to prevent pork barrelling and ensure that all electorates receive the exact same amount of funding.
The program provides $400,000 to every electorate in NSW regardless of political allegiance; whether or not a Labor candidate won the seat – a fact not included in morning media reports.
Media reports this morning wrongly indicated the program has been designed by NSW Labor headquarters – and not the Parliamentary Labor Party.
Projects committed under this program were small-scale projects identified by local communities and supported by Labor candidates.
Projects must have been nominated as election commitments prior to the March 2023 election.
If the allocation of funding in each electorate has not been fully assigned, the remainder of the funds for the electorate will be distributed to councils to be used for projects such as local parks and playgrounds.
The Local Small Commitments Allocation formed part of the election platform we were elected to deliver for the people of NSW and we will do so in full.
The program was publicly costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Every single project is subject to a rigorous probity process including by an expert independent assessment panel.
Independent probity advisors have been appointed to advise on the management of conflicts of interest and provide probity advice.
The LSCA Program Guideline has been designed to ensure it is administered in accordance with the stringent requirements of the Grants Administration Guide. It has been approved by the Special Minister of State and outlines the following rigorous assessment process for all submissions:
- Must meet organisational eligibility criteria
- Must be assessed by an expert independent Assessment Panel as against 3 merit criteria of community benefits, value for money and deliverability
- If deemed to have merit, recommendations will be made by the Premier’s Department to the Minister
- The Minister is the final decision maker for projects to be funded.
Organisations approved for funding will be required to enter into a funding agreement outlining the terms and conditions of the funding, including regular reporting and acquittal requirements.
All approved LSCA funding will be published on the NSW Government Grants and Funding Finder website no later than 45 calendar days after the funding agreement takes effect.
LSCA Program expenditure will be referenced in the NSW Premier’s Department annual report for 2023-2024.
This is in stark difference to the notorious pork barrelling of the former Liberal-National government, which regularly misused public money in National and Liberal Party held seats.
The most egregious example being the pork barrelling of bush fire funding following the devastating 2019 bushfires. In another example, the Stronger Communities Fund saw 96 per cent of this $252 million funding went to Coalition-held seats and was condemned by the Auditor General as lacking integrity.