The "sports rorts" affair was the name by which
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n media and political commentators came to refer to events during the second
Keating ministry in late 1993 and early 1994, where the then Sports Minister,
Ros Kelly
Roslyn Joan Kelly AO (née Raw; born 25 January 1948) is a former member of the Australian House of Representatives, having represented the Division of Canberra from 18 October 1980 to 30 January 1995. She was a minister in the governments ...
, was unable to appropriately explain the distribution of federal sporting grants to
marginal
Marginal may refer to:
* ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001
* ''Marginal'' (manga)
* '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series
* Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...
electorates held by the governing
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
. On 28 February 1994, Kelly resigned from her position under consistent pressure from the
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia ...
and the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
opposition about the matter. Ultimately, the controversy also led to her resignation from Parliament and, at the
resulting by-election on 25 March 1995, the government lost the normally safe Labor seat of
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
.
In December 1993, the Auditor-General complained about the manner in which the Department had administered
A$30 million of grants under the Community Cultural, Recreational and Sporting Facilities Program, which had been initiated by
Graham Richardson
Graham Frederick Richardson (born 27 September 1949) is an Australian former Labor Party politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 1983 to 1994 and served as a Cabinet Minister in both the Hawke and Keating Governments. He is c ...
in 1988. The Auditor-General reported that he could not find any documentation explaining the rationale for grants made by Kelly's department, and therefore could not assess her decision-making procedures. The opposition, led by
John Hewson
John Robert Hewson AM (born 28 October 1946) is an Australian former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994. He led the Liberal-National Coalition to defeat at the 1993 Australian federal election.
Hewson was ...
and
Peter Costello
Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving treasurer in Australia' ...
, claimed in Parliament that the money had been directed into marginal Labor-held electorates before the
1993 federal election as a
pork barrel
''Pork barrel'', or simply ''pork'', is a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district.
The usage originated in American English, and i ...
ling exercise. Initially, she avoided answering questions on the matter, but she relented following threats by the
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia ...
to vote for a Liberal proposition establishing a Senate inquiry if she did not give evidence to a House of Representatives committee. During the enquiry, she said that she had assessed 2,800 submissions for funding on the sole basis of verbal advice from her staff, and that decisions on short-listed applications had been made on a "great big whiteboard" in her office, having been erased without permanent record once the decisions were made. The 12-person committee, despite having a Labor majority, ultimately found in February 1994 that her actions were "not illegal" but her administration was "deficient".
On 21 February 1994, following changes to
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members of the ...
Question Time
A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...
which created a roster for ministers to appear in the House, the Liberals, led by Hewson and Costello, used the opportunity to demand her resignation. On 28 February, she did so, although Keating continued to support her, speaking out on 3 March 1994 accusing the Senate of holding the Government to ransom.
Eleven months later, Kelly resigned from parliament, triggering a
1995 by-election. A 16.1% swing against Labor in the normally comfortably safe Labor seat resulted in the election of Liberal challenger
Brendan Smyth on 25 March 1995. Labor was heavily defeated in the
1996 election, but
Bob McMullan
Robert Francis McMullan (born 10 December 1947) is an Australian former politician who represented the Australian Labor Party in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. He was the first person to represent the Australian Capital Terr ...
regained Canberra for Labor while Smyth failed to win the new seat of
Namadgi.
See also
*
Sports rorts affair (2020)
The "sports rorts" affair, also called the McKenzie scandal, is a scandal involving the Sport Australia's Community Sport Infrastructure Program that engulfed Senator Bridget McKenzie, the then Minister for Sport in the Morrison Government comm ...
References
{{reflist
Political scandals in Australia
Keating Government
1994 in Australia
Sport in Australia