The sordid saga of Round 6 of Labor’s dodgy Mobile Black Spot Program has taken another turn, with the Government announcing today that almost a quarter of the 54 projects will not proceed.
Under Round 6, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland hand-picked every one of the sites, with 74% being in Labor electorates. An investigation by the Auditor-General into the Government’s handling of Round 6 is currently underway.
When announcing her personal list of 54 sites, the Minister said that “this new funding will address known mobile communications issues at 54 target locations”.
But now 12 of the 54 sites will not receive funding. The Communications Department says that funding will not be provided at these sites because either there was no application at all, or because the applications did not stack up.
“This program has been dodgy from the start, and it’s now got even worse,” Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman said.
“The fact that nearly a quarter of the projects on the Minister’s hand-picked list have fallen over just demonstrates what a sham this whole process was.
“The sites were chosen based on the political interests of the Labor Party, and beer-coaster analysis. Today’s revelations provide even more material for the Auditor-General to investigate.”