And they said Gough was bad with money...
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:08 pmhttp://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 04,00.html
"New government figures reveal John Howard and his ministers doled out $9.1 billion in grants at their personal discretion between 2002 and last year in what Labor sources described last night as stunning evidence of loose financial management.
The Department of Finance figures, to be publicly released today, show a massive trend under the Howard government to create grant programs over which ministers had the right to use their discretion to determine which projects received funds.
Between 2002 and last year, grants allocated at ministerial discretion grew tenfold from $451million to $4.5billion, with almost $7.5billion spent in the Howard government's final term.
The individual number of grants blew out from 12,006 in 2004 to 49,060 last year.
Discretionary grants are available in a range of government sectors and do not include entitlement-based payments or rebates such as drought assistance, family tax benefits and baby bonuses.
The Labor Party has long accused the Coalition of using the grant programs to curry favour, particularly in rural and regional electorates."
Bye bye John. Maybe now we have someone in Government we can trust to do the right thing with our money.
"New government figures reveal John Howard and his ministers doled out $9.1 billion in grants at their personal discretion between 2002 and last year in what Labor sources described last night as stunning evidence of loose financial management.
The Department of Finance figures, to be publicly released today, show a massive trend under the Howard government to create grant programs over which ministers had the right to use their discretion to determine which projects received funds.
Between 2002 and last year, grants allocated at ministerial discretion grew tenfold from $451million to $4.5billion, with almost $7.5billion spent in the Howard government's final term.
The individual number of grants blew out from 12,006 in 2004 to 49,060 last year.
Discretionary grants are available in a range of government sectors and do not include entitlement-based payments or rebates such as drought assistance, family tax benefits and baby bonuses.
The Labor Party has long accused the Coalition of using the grant programs to curry favour, particularly in rural and regional electorates."
Bye bye John. Maybe now we have someone in Government we can trust to do the right thing with our money.
