New grants rules aim to stop rorts

In the wake of a string of highly critical findings on past federal grants programs, the changes came into force in October.

The new rules have been rebadged as the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles (CGRPs), previously known as the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines (CGRGs).

The changes are particularly aimed at decision-makers such as ministers, accountable authorities, officials, and third parties involved in grants administration. They also entail additional requirements for developing grant guidelines, briefing ministers, recording decisions, and publishing and reporting on grants.

According to the federal grants watchdog, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), the changes are a direct result of its own investigations, as well those by the Parliament’s public administration oversight body, the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA).

“These changes result largely from the JCPAA inquiry into Commonwealth procurement, the JCPAA inquiry into grants administration as well as relevant ANAO recommendations that were included in performance audit reports,” acting ANAO chief Carla Jago said.

“Our audits continue to find evidence that public servants are falling short in areas related to integrity, probity and ethics,” including in grants programs, Jago said.

In a foreword to the new guidelines, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the changes reflected the need “for continual improvement to integrity, transparency and accountability in grants administration.”

The JCPAA’s June 2023 report examined a series of troubled Coalition-era federal programs including:

• commuter car parks projects within the Urban Congestion Fund
• the Safer Communities Program
• the Building Better Regions Fund
• the Grants Hubs program
• the Regional Growth Fund.

That inquiry found a string of instances of non-compliant grant rules, a trend towards non-competitive grants, a lack of definition of election commitments, inadequate records of decisions by officials and ministers, and the use of unspecified “other factors” in grants assessments.

At the time, the JCPAA’s chair, Julian Hill MP, said the committee had found “clear and concerning evidence of serial non-compliance”.

“The requirements are not overly complex or onerous, yet both the letter and the spirit of rules were routinely disregarded by ministers and officials.”

He said that “assessment processes were repeatedly, systematically and systemically perverted”, with funding decisions repeatedly resulting in “ridiculously partisan outcomes”.

Coalition MPs on the committee argued that some of the report was “politically motivated”, attacking “politically charged rhetoric in the report”.

More information

Details of the new grants framework