The Tasmanian Liberals have outdone themselves once again when it comes to the secretive and corrupted use of public money.
Having faced criticism from the Integrity Commission for their 2018 vote-buying exercise, in 2021 the Liberals went even further with their sports rorts. They nearly got away with it, before the Greens and media exposed them.
Now it’s clear the Liberals have perfected the fine art of electoral bribery, and 2024’s version is even dodgier than before.
It is completely unacceptable for an unelected party apparatchik – who is not even running for election – to announce nearly $19 million in grants without an independent, merits-based and open process. The announcement by a non-candidate is clearly designed to protect candidates from later scrutiny over any conflicts of interest they may hold with groups.
The Liberals’ approach to community organisations is simple: starve them of the money they need between elections, then use election times as a vehicle for vote-buying.
There are hundreds of community groups crying out for support – and that’s exactly why Tasmania needs an open, merits-based process to distribute precious public money. So many organisations would desperately want a slice of the Liberals’ election promises, but have been cut out because they aren’t close enough to Liberal MPs or their candidates.
The Greens strongly support investment in local groups, but this should be done transparently, fairly, and without politicians getting involved. That’s why we’ve previously announced our commitment to increase the annual investment in the Tasmanian Community Fund – so those community organisations that need it most get funding first.
