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Canberra Today 15°/18° | Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Liberals call for the Auditor-General to look at Government funding of Unions ACT

Alistair Coe

ALISTAIR Coe says the situation surrounding Andrew Barr’s taxpayer funded grants to Unions ACT is getting even murkier and the Canberra Liberals are now calling for the Auditor-General to investigate these payments.

“It was revealed last week that the ACT Labor Government has been funnelling taxpayer funds to Unions ACT since 2003, without a proper tender process, and under the guise of work health and safety services. It has been further revealed that Unions ACT had its training registration disqualified. It looks like a complete rort,” Alistair said.

“The payments were also rolled into an annual amount of more than $121,000 for the first time this year, instead of the previous quarterly instalments. This is also in advance. Unions ACT needs to rule out that this cash is being used to fund a re-election campaign for ACT Labor.

We have a number of questions, including:

  • Why is the arrangement uncontracted?
  • Why have payments continued after Unions ACT’s training registration was cancelled?
  • Why can’t the government provide these services in house as opposed to having a union mates deal?
  • Why is there now an annual payment instead of quarterly payments?

“In the interests of transparency and given the record of the Barr Government, the Auditor-General should investigate this issue,” Mr Coe concluded.

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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