The federal government has launched round 6 of the Safer Communities Fund, despite two separate rorting scandals that have brought the program under audit.
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The National Audit Office launched their probe after the ABC found Liberal Party member Peter Dutton had intervened in the grant-approvals process to direct funds towards his chosen projects.
The ABC found Mr Dutton had ignored the merit-based assessments of his own department and approved certain Safer Communities projects that had not been recommended on the basis of their merits.
In a separate incident, a Freedom of Information request found Liberal Party member Jason Wood had greenlit Safer Communities grant applications that had not been recommended by his department.
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Wagga City Councillor Dan Hayes said there was no reason to believe the same thing would not happen again, since ministers still held significant discretion over which projects were picked.
"[Member for Riverina] Michael McCormack has given no guarantee that anything has changed, so there's no confidence in these grant programs any more," Cr Hayes said.
"You've got people dedicating significant resources to completing the applications believing it's going to be a fair and transparent process, but what we've seen time and time again by this government is that it gets overridden by the relevant minister picking the projects they think would give them the best electoral chances rather than the ones independently assessed as the best."
Mr McCormack told The Daily Advertiser grant applications were based on their merits, and that it was entirely appropriate that ministers have a say in the approvals process.
"The Australian people elect Governments to make decisions, not bureaucrats, and it is entirely appropriate that Ministers continue to have oversight in decision-making processes," Mr McCormack said.
"Each application will be checked to see if it aligns with the eligibility criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the assessment stage.
"From there, the applications are assessed on merit, based on a number of criteria, including how the application compares to other applications and whether it provides value for taxpayer money."
He also said the program was intended to assist young people at high risk from engaging in criminal or anti-social behaviour, as well as building resilience, making cultural connections and honing job readiness skills.
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