Anne Twomey, a constitutional expert from the University of Sydney, has submitted a critique to a Senate inquiry regarding an Albanese government grant program. She labeled a $6 million award given to a golf club in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorate as “grey corruption,” criticizing it as favoring political interests over public interest and lacking transparency. Twomey argues that the grants disproportionately benefited Labor-held seats, with 73% of funding going to such areas, raising concerns about misuse of public money for local electoral gain rather than national benefit.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
A leading constitutional expert has labelled an Albanese government decision to award a $6m grant to a golf club in the prime minister’s electorate as “grey corruption” and called the scheme under which it was given a “farce”.
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it → lead → which
Anne Twomey, a University of Sydney professor emerita, submitted the scathing assessment to a Senate inquiry into an opaque $560m invitation-only grants scheme used to fund projects Labor promised at the 2025 election, and which largely went to Labor-held seats.
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which → submit → seats
During the 2025 campaign, the government promised the Marrickville golf club, which is in Anthony Albanese’s electorate of Grayndler, $6m for a series of upgrades.
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which → promise → upgrades
The grant was awarded under a “closed non-competitive” process last July.
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grant → award → process
Twomey labelled the grant “grey corruption”, which she described as a “broad term that encompasses any actions where governments exercise their powers to favour private interests or political interests over the national interest”.
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governments → label → interest
After coming under fire last month for the grant, Albanese said the funding was meant to fix problems caused by raw sewage flowing into the adjacent Cooks River.
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funding → come → River
But Twomey wrote that there was no reference to this in the prime minister’s original announcement in 2025, only that it involved renovations and the harvesting of storm water to irrigate the golf course.
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it → write → course
He said at the time: “I make no apologies for my electorate being serviced by me as a good local member.”
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electorate → say → member
Twomey responded to this in her submission, saying: “No, this is not about ‘being a good local member’.
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this → respond → submission
It is about indulging in grey corruption and the misuse of public money at the public’s expense.
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It → indulge → expense
“If federal politicians want to make election promises, then they should be doing so about federal matters and the policies that they propose to implement if elected.
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they → want → that
Public money is not their own money to spend at will, or money belonging to their political party.
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money → spend → party
A scandal erupted last month when research found that the money in the program went overwhelmingly to Labor electorates.
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money → erupt → electorates
The Centre for Public Integrity found 73% of the allocated funding went to seats held by Labor MPs before the election.
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% → find → election
Labor strongly defended the program as within the rules – the infrastructure minister, Catherine King, has said there was no conflict of interest as Albanese was not the decision-maker on the grant.
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Albanese → defend → grant
She said applications had been approved after they were assessed to show they met value for money.
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they → say → money
“That is what happens after every single election,” King said.
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King → happen → election
Twomey wrote that the promise of the $6m had been made after the club was given more than $58,000 across four years for five grants that funded upgrades, including to the toilets, club house and lockers, and to planting rows of trees.
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that → write → trees
All of these grants, except for one in 2019, were classified as “closed, non-competitive”.
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All → classify → -
Twomey labelled this “remarkable”, adding that the “effect was that the Marrickville Golf Club was granted funds without any assessment of whether it had greater need for these grants than anyone else”.
“They were effectively gifts of political largesse, funded by taxpayers,” she wrote.
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she → label → taxpayers
Some of the grants were awarded while the Coalition was in government.
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Coalition → award → government
Twomey wrote that “at first glance this might be regarded as a counter to accusations of pork-barrelling” but “it in fact reveals a more systemic problem with such grants”.
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it → write → grants
She said this was because under the scheme – called the Powering Communities and Stronger Communities Programs – local MPs selected organisations to apply for the grant.
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MPs → say → grant
Twomey wrote that it appeared all the grants were a consequence of a choice made by Albanese and such schemes “provide a variation on the more common form of pork-barrelling”.
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schemes → write → barrelling
“They still favour the government of the day, because a government will almost always have more MPs than the opposition,” she wrote.
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she → favour → opposition
“But it gives the illusion of evenhandedness, even though the recipients for grants are chosen on political grounds.”
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recipients → give → grounds
Twomey labelled the grants system a “farce” as its guidelines were “drafted after the promises have been made to ensure that they can be met”.
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they → label → system
The scheme was “deliberately constructed in this way, to provide a public perception of integrity and propriety while facilitating political patronage and the grant of favours with public money, contrary to the public interest”.
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scheme → construct → interest
While the program did appear to be constitutionally valid, she warned there were still obligations that needed to be met, including the efficient and ethical spending of public money.
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that → appear → money
The offices of Albanese and King were approached for comment.
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offices → approach → comment
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