The crossbench (who have already been very busy this morning) are coming together to support Allegra Spenders’ private members bill calling for more transparency around government project spending (which is also known as pork barrelling).

Spender and the crossbench want more guardrails around project spending to ensure taxpayers are getting value for money, rather than governments bedding down electorates in tough contests.

You may remember the former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian admitting ‘everyone does it’ when she was questioned about pork barrelling, which is at least honest, if not depressing that it is so normalised.

Spender and the crossbench want business cases and value for money.

Spender:

“Many of these projects cost hundreds of millions if not billions, but there is often no business case, and no reason to be confident that they’ll be finished on time or on budget. My Better Value for Taxpayers Bill will ensure that both sides of politics are held to account. Australians deserve better than big ticket projects that go nowhere.”

It isn’t the first time the crossbench have attempted to address this – Helen Haines has introduced previous private member bills on the same issue:

https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/the-push-to-stop-pork-barrelling/