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Labor leveraged an invite-only $20 million fund to install CCTV networks across critical electorates, prioritising its own seats and high-value Coalition targets before the last election.
The Coalition seized on the “Strengthening Community Safety” program as another example of Labor using grant programs to shower seats in cash after Anthony Albanese heavily criticised the previous Coalition government for manipulating grants programs.
As Albanese cancelled his honorary membership of a golf course in his electorate that received a $6 million grant, details of the safety program grants have been unearthed by the opposition.
The Greens secured a Senate inquiry into the $560 million fund on Monday. It will report back by mid-November.
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The safety program funded 20 upgrades, 17 of which benefited seats Labor held before the election in May 2025. Of the programs in non-Labor seats, a $1.5 million upgrade was used for projects in Peter Dutton’s old seat of Dickson in outer Brisbane, won by Labor, and nearby Petrie, which Labor also picked up.
Another $600,000 grant benefited programs in the marginal Coalition seats of Deakin and Menzies in Melbourne, also seized in Labor’s landslide victory last election, when it picked up 17 new seats.
Other non-Labor seats to benefit included Leichhardt in Queensland, which Labor won off the Coalition, and Kennedy, held by independent Bob Katter.
Most of the grants were for CCTV, lighting and other safety features in a critical clutch of seats that were either marginal or deemed at risk by Labor, including McEwen ($2.25 million), Hawke and Gorton in Victoria, Parramatta ($2.2 million), Reid and Richmond in NSW, and Tangney in Western Australia.
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“Unbelievably, crime only seems to be a problem in Labor-held seats,” said Ben Small, the opposition assistant spokesman for infrastructure.
“Nothing in these numbers passes the pub test. Labor set their own test for this expenditure in opposition, time and time again. They have been caught red-handed now with their hand in the cookie jar, but taxpayers foot the bill for those cookies.”
Labor came under pressure from the Coalition and crossbenchers last week over revelations that nearly three-quarters of the cash from a $560 million grants program went to Labor-held seats.
The government argues that it is relying on long-standing precedent on funding election commitments presented by candidates at election time. These differ from grants programs that include competitive tender processes, which were at times misused by the former Coalition government.
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This masthead reported that the auditor-general, responding to an opposition complaint, had moved a step closer to a full audit of Labor’s election funding programs.
Albanese fired back at the Coalition in parliament on Monday after opposition frontbencher Angie Bell asked if a $6 million grant to the Marrickville Golf Club “increase[d] the value of his investment property down the road?”
Amid a fiery dispute over the incendiary question, Albanese said: “It wasn’t so much a question as a smear. Its imputations are completely false.”
The prime minister repeated that he had not known about the undeclared honorary membership of the club until last week. He revealed that he had written to the club to decline the membership. Footage emerged last week showing that Albanese had often been to the club for events.
The prime minister claimed that the Coalition was planning to spent $1.6 billion, more than Labor, on local infrastructure commitments at the last election, showing the practice sometimes known as pork barrelling was rife on both sides.
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Labor has also argued that crossbenchers who rail against major parties funding programs are often seeking private commitments from Labor ministers to fund local projects without competitive tender processes.
“The opposition, of course, made election commitments worth $1.6 billion. Over a thousand of them. We’re happy to go through it,” Albanese said.
The prime minister maintained that he had not known about an undeclared honorary membership of the golf club last week, and to provide certainty, he had written to the club to decline it.
“I’ve also made it clear that if I’m in a position to visit the club sometime in the future, which I haven’t done since my election as prime minister, I’d be more than pleased to pay $5,” he said.
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A spokesman for the Home Affairs Tony Burke said Labor’s fund was “part of our broader investment in keeping Australians safe”.
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Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement