The Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to directly answer a series of questions about a key document in a controversial $660 million commuter car park fund which the audit office has stated was discussed and used in his office.
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Mr Morrison bristled at journalist questions in Canberra on Thursday and declared "Australians are the winners!" over a fund which has been described as "sports rorts on an industrial scale."
A scathing Auditor-General's report in June that found the sites chosen in the scheme had not been selected on merit and focused on Coalition held or marginal seats. It was later found that the office of the minister in charge at the time, Alan Tudge, kept a "top 20 marginals" tracking sheet for awarding projects. The now Education Minister was queried about the spreadsheet on Wednesday by journalists in Parliament House, but ended up walking away amid persistent questioning.
The Prime Minister was asked about the purpose of a top 20 marginals list in order to allocate taxpayer money, and gave this response;
"The Auditor-General has already made his ruling on this report. And ministers were authorised to make the decisions and the minister made the decisions," Mr Morrison said.
The audit referred to a November 2018 meeting in which staff from the offices of both Mr Tudge and the Prime Minister went through a spreadsheet identifying potential projects.
It was later found in a senate hearing that the contact person in the Prime Minister's office for the commuter car park fund was also involved in the equally controversial sports grant program.
Asked about what involvement he had and 'Is it true your office saw this top marginals list?,' the Prime Minister said, "I've already made my comment."
But the questions did not stop. They were specifically about Mr Morrison's possible involvement or conversations. And did he have any conversation about 'where this taxpayer money would go?'
His responses were that, 'The ministers made the decisions on these programs," and "Ministers discuss many issues, but ministers make the decisions. That's what the auditor-general found."
As questions continued, the Prime Minister defended the commuter car park fund.
"What I have done is made sure that we're addressing one of the biggest challenges that people living in cities face," he said.
"I'm very OK with the idea of building car parks to ensure people can get a park, get on a train, can get to work sooner, get home sooner, because urban congestion and people commuting is a daily challenge. This is a daily thing that people want done. And we're getting it done.
"I'm telling you, ministers make the decisions as they should. That's the proper authorisation of the process. What Australians are getting are more car parks. Australians are the winners! Thanks very much!"
Meantime, Mr Tudge has defended his handling of the press conference on Wednesday which ended with the minister walking away while being peppered with questions.
"Yesterday I spoke at a press conference, and addressed a number of questions in relation to the commuter car park are commitments that we had made, but I gave a very comprehensive answer to those questions, and I stand by those answers," he told Parliament.
The minister told reporters in Parliament House on Wednesday he was "not aware" of a marginal seats list and insisted the car park sites "were chosen on need".
Labor Senator Katy Gallagher has moved a motion in the senate ordering the government to produce documents on the fund, including the "top 20 marginals" list. The list is due by Monday.
Not one of the 47 commuter car park sites promised at the 2019 election was selected by the infrastructure department - 77 percent of the projects were in Coalition seats and, to date, only two are complete.
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