Explosion in $79k contracts that don’t need to go out to tender

by Elizabeth Minter | Apr 9, 2021 | Conflicts of Interest, Deceptive Conduct, Liberal Party, QED

Conflicts of Interest | Deceptive Conduct | Liberal Party | QED

Explosion in $79k contracts that don’t need to go out to tender

2017 ongoing

In the past four years three times as many contracts worth between $78,000 and $80,000 — the threshold for a tender process — have been doled out than there were between $80,000 and $82,000.

As Senator Jacquie Lambie wrote in Crikey, $1.5 billion in 2019-20 was splashed around the private sector with no scrutiny. “Any project worth less than $80,000 can be awarded to anyone — without scrutiny.”

And while the contracts provide plenty of jobs, the government doesn’t advertise more than half of them publicly.

Senator Lambie noted that in the past four years, three times as many contracts worth between $78,000 and $80,000 — the threshold — were doled out than there were between $80,000 and $82,000.

“A contract that goes over budget and requires more taxpayer dollars on top is allowed to raid the public purse with no consequence.”

Given the fact that missing out on a government contract might be the difference between a small business staying open or closing their doors, Senator Lambie is demanding an end to $79,999 contracts being tendered in the dark.

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Redirecting funding to pet hobbies; offering jobs to the boys without a proper tender process; secretly bankrolling candidates in elections; taking up private sector jobs in apparent breach of parliament’s code of ethics, the list goes on.

Deceptive Conduct

Claiming that greenhouse gas emissions have gone down when the facts clearly show otherwise; breaking the law on responding to FoI requests; reneging on promised legislation; claiming credit for legislation that doesn’t exist; accepting donations that breach rules. You get the drift of what behaviour this category captures.

Election Rorts

In the months before the last election, the Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ money on grants for sports, community safety, rural development programs and more. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability.

Dubious Travel Claims

Ministerial business that just happens to coincide with a grand final or a concert; electorate business that must be conducted in prime tourist locations, or at the same time as party fundraisers. All above board, maybe, but does it really pass the pub test? Or does it just reinforce the fact that politicians take the public for mugs?

Explosion in $79k contracts that don’t need to go out to tender

Explosion in $79k contracts that don’t need to go out to tender

What's a rort?

Conflicts of Interest

Deceptive Conduct

Election Rorts

Dubious Travel Claims

Thank you!

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