Nine sports grants added to spreadsheet hours after election called

Earlier on Monday Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said former sports minister Bridget McKenzie was "unequivocal" that she hadn't backdated an official briefing on the allocation of funds, but the audit office told senators that attachments to the brief had changed.

Two emails sent to Sport Australia on April 11 with a briefing dated April 4 included attached spreadsheets that had been changed on April 10 and April 11.

Evidence given late on Monday night from audit officials appears to show decisions were made on awarding grants after the caretaker period started.

It was revealed two separate emails were sent to Sport Australia on April 11, each with a different spreadsheet reflecting different allocations of funds.

The first email, sent at 8.46am, included one project that had been removed, and another added at the request of the Prime Minister's office, executive director of the Performance Audit Services Group Brian Boyd said.

The second email, sent after midday, had another project removed and nine projects added, but Mr Boyd said it didn't appear the change had been requested outside the sport minister's office.

The final spreadsheet was sent to the Prime Minister's office just minutes after it had been sent to Sport Australia, the committee heard.

Officials said there had been no change to the brief, which had been dated and signed April 4, but the attached document had changed.

Auditor General Grant Hehir refused to detail what projects had been removed or added to the list on April 11, citing the government's previous references to privacy concerns.

Mr Hehir said his office hadn't considered whether it had been appropriate to make the decisions in the caretaker period.

"It's not a matter that we considered in the context of the audit report," he said.

"Whether the caretaker conventions apply to something like this isn't something we would look at."

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