The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has sharply criticized the former Coalition government for deliberate breaches of grant legislation surrounding the Community Health and Hospitals Program (CHHP). The health department’s actions, labeled as “potentially corrupt” by MP Monique Ryan, have raised significant concerns about corruption, transparency, and integrity within the Australian government’s grant system. The ANAO report underlined that many projects were chosen without the formal application process and highlighted multiple breaches of grant guidelines. Han Aulby, the executive director of the Centre for Public Integrity, Australia’s leading anti-corruption think tank, described the findings as a “brazen disregard for existing laws”. This think tank has emphasized the need for greater parliamentary oversight, transparency in ministerial spending, and bolstered integrity in the granting process.
This is a summary of “Coalition government’s brazen health grant breach worse than sports rorts, integrity body says” published in The Guardian on Wed 7 Jun 2023 and written by Josh Butler and Khaled Al Khawaldeh. Read it in full here.