The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has declared that ‘Pork barrelling’ involving the granting and funding of taxpayers’ money could constitute corrupt conduct in some circumstances, if Members of Parliament or public servants allocated funds and/or resources to electors.
ICAC, which defined pork barrelling as “the allocation of public funds and resources to targeted electors for partisan political purposes”, recommended that any whole-of-Government guidelines relating to grants funding be issued in accordance with a statutory regulation.
In its Report on Investigation into Pork Barrelling in NSW, ICAC said it intended to make it clear that Ministers and their advisers did not have an unfettered discretion to distribute the public’s funds.
“The exercise of Ministerial discretion is subject to the rule of law, which ensures that it must accord with public trust and accountability principles,” ICAC said.
It said a Minister may engage in corrupt conduct involving pork barrelling under the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 (ICAC Act) if they influenced a public servant to provide an assessment of the merits of grants in a dishonest or partial way.
The Commissioner said a Minister’s conduct may also be considered corrupt if they applied downward pressure to influence a public servant to use their decision-making powers in a manner which knowingly involved them in a breach of public trust.
“In circumstances where pork barrelling is serious and wilful, it may constitute conduct so far below acceptable standards as to amount to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder, such that criminal punishment is warranted,” ICAC said.
“Such conduct could potentially satisfy the elements of the criminal offence of misconduct in public office and, consequently, also satisfy [section] 9 of the ICAC Act.”
It warned Ministers and their advisors that conducting a merit-based grants scheme that dishonestly favoured political and private advantage over merit, undermined public confidence in public administration, and benefitted political donors and/or family members would also fall under corrupt conduct.
The Commission made 21 recommendations to help prevent and better regulate pork barrelling, including amendments to the Government Sector Finance Act 2018 and the Ministerial Code of Conduct, as well as applying the grant funding framework to the local government sector.
ICAC’s 339-page Report can be downloaded at this PS News link.
