Minister ‘elevated stadium bid’: Cats get Crean

By John Van Klaveren
A LOWLY-RANKED Geelong football club project was favoured for federal funding over better credentialed projects, according to an audit report.
Australian National Audit Office report said Regional Development Minister Simon Crean personally elevated the Skilled Stadium development.
The report said he failed to provide sufficient reasons for the change.
“The reason did not outline how it had been identified as more meritorious than the other 40 projects that were ranked equally or the 76 projects that were ranked more highly.”
The stadium and city’s library and heritage centre project each received $10 million in the first Regional Development Australia funding round last year.
The library and heritage centre was the highest ranked local project, the report said.
The second highest ranked project was East Geelong Community Hub, lodged by human service organisation Karingal.
The selection of the stadium project also cost the city’s library and heritage centre $5 million, with its funding reduced from the $15 million initial application.
The report quoted Mr Crean as saying his decision was “based on my knowledge and advice as well as its strong business case and the leveraged funds for both the library and football proposals”.
The football project was the only one of the 41 applications in the lowest ranked band considered for possible funding, the report said.
The football project was considered against an advisory panel recommendation because it was not yet ready for funding.
Mr Crean rejected the Karingal submission because two other projects in Geelong had already been approved for funding, the report said.
Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce said the audit report finding on the football club project was “damning”.
“Good community regional projects in regional Australia have a better chance of receiving funding from the Labor party if they are in Labor electorates or associated with a major football club,” Sen Joyce said.
“My advice to them is: move to a Labor seat and sponsor a major footy team.
“More than 60 applications were ranked above the football stadium but Minister Crean approved this funding anyway.”
Mayor Cr John Mitchell said he wasn’t aware of the report.
“The library and heritage centre was our priority project but once it leaves our hands we have no control over funding decisions,” he said.
Karingal chief Daryl Starkey said he was also unaware of the report.
“The Karingal project has received two State Government grants and we’re hopeful of Regional Development Australia.”