A $560 million government fund somehow found its way almost entirely into Labor's own seats

An investigation by the Centre for Public Integrity has found $493 million of a $560 million federal grants program went to electorates that were safe, fairly safe or competitive for Labor. Forty five electorates were not invited to apply at all.

The fund is the Major and Local Community Infrastructure Program (MLCIP), set up by Infrastructure Minister Catherine King to deliver Labor's 2025 election commitments for sporting grounds, parks and other community facilities. It is invitation only and non-competitive. More than 220 projects were invited to apply, but the government has never published how it decided who got an invitation.

The Centre's analysis, published in the research paper "Public Money, political advantage?", found just $66 million of the $560 million went to seats where Labor was not competitive. Looked at by who holds the seat, 73.2 per cent of funding, $409.1 million, went to notionally Labor-held divisions, against 22.6 per cent for Coalition seats and 4.3 per cent for others. For every dollar spent in a Coalition seat, $3.20 went into a Labor one.

The Centre also checked whether the pattern could be explained by need, using household income and a measure of community connectedness. It found no link. The poorest electorates in the country received a below-average share of the funding.

One grant has drawn particular attention. Marrickville Golf Club, in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's seat of Grayndler, received $6 million, the only golf club funded under the program nationally.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King says the MLCIP followed the government's grant guidelines and longstanding practice, and that ministers do not decide on applications in their own electorate, with those calls made by another cabinet minister. The government also points to $1.7 billion in separate, competitive funding through the Growing Regions and Thriving Suburbs programs.

Shadow infrastructure minister Bridget McKenzie has called the process opaque, noting Ms King's department did not hold the project list and had to obtain it from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Independent MP Helen Haines, whose electorate of Indi was among the 45 excluded, says the findings show pork-barrelling on a scale she found shocking.

The government has not published an explanation of how the invitation list was compiled. Whether it does is worth watching.