Jun 10, 20221 min read

What Were The "Sports Rorts"?

Updated: Jul 20, 2022

"Sports Rorts" refers to the $100 Million Community Sport Infrastructure Program which was established under the Scott Morrison government in the lead up to the 2019 Federal Election. The fund was intended to promote sporting clubs and facilities with recommendations for hundreds of specific grants being provided by Sports Australia.

Then-Sports Minister, Bridget McKenzie, instead targeted specific marginal electorates as part of assessment process for which grant requests would be approved. This resulted in more than 70% of the programs which eventually received funding not being those originally proposed by Sports Australia's review process. The affair was described as "industrial-scale pork barrelling."

Bridget McKenzie

Ms. McKenzie resigned from cabinet and withdrew from her position as Deputy Leader of the Nationals on the 2nd of February 2020 following an investigation by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The investigation found that Ms. McKenzie breached ministerial standards as she failed to declare that she was a member of a gun club which received nearly $36,000 from the Community Sport Infrastructure Program.

Following a leadership spill within the National Party in July of 2021, Ms. McKenzie returned to cabinet as Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience and the Minister for Rationalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education.