Albanese admits false claim about golf club grant
PM Albanese admits he was wrong about a $6m golf club grant including sewerage repairs.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted he was wrong about why his government gave $6 million to Marrickville Golf Club in his Sydney electorate of Grayndler. In September, he told the ABC the grant partly funded sewerage repairs, but Senate estimates confirmed the sewerage work was never part of the agreement.
The club did have drainage issues and received a separate $270,000 grant from NSW to fix them. Infrastructure Department assistant secretary Jacinta McDonald said the federal funding was largely for clubhouse upgrades, stormwater harvesting, and storage tanks.
When pressed in parliament on Tuesday, Mr Albanese said he was not correct and that the state government had since stepped in on the sewerage problem. The grant came from a $560 million community infrastructure program that funds election promises across the country.
Opposition members had called for him to apologise and correct the record.
- $6 million
- Federal grant
- $270,000
- State sewerage grant
- $560 million
- Program size
- Grayndler
- PM's electorate
Why it mattersThe PM's misstatement over a major grant shows accountability gaps in how federal funds are described and used, raising questions about oversight.
AustraliaAustralian taxpayers fund federal grants; this case reveals the need for accurate claims about how that money is spent and what it covers.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
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