Community soccer clubs received funding after giving to Labor campaigns
Updated ,first published
Two NSW Labor MPs have collectively funded $100,000 to organizations that donated thousands of dollars to their campaigns before the last state election.
Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis and Liverpool MP Charishma Kaliyanda received contributions of $1600 and $1100 respectively from two community sports clubs; It was the first election in which both organizations made a reportable political donation.
The Local Small Commitment Allocation has faced significant scrutiny since it was announced ahead of the 2023 state election. The program provided $400,000 each to 93 Labor MPs and candidates across NSW to nominate community groups for funding.
The coalition, the Greens and public accountability experts have criticized the $37.2 million plan’s equity, effectiveness and integrity processes. It has not been publicly disclosed before that MPs allocate funds to the organizations they receive donations from.
Three weeks before the March 2023 election, Cotsis congratulated Earlwood Wanderers Football Club in the inner west on being nominated for $15,000 under the LSCA; this money was spent on building a cage to store equipment and funding a women’s football program.
Ten days later, revelations from the NSW Electoral Commission revealed that the club had donated $1600 to Cotsis. The donation on March 14 appears to be the club’s only reportable contribution to any political organization or MP. The club did not respond to requests for comment.
Cotsis’ office referred questions about the timing of the donation and the funding announcement to the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday.
In comments released Thursday, Cotsis said he would not apologize for ensuring local organizations had access to the funding for which they were eligible.
“Earlwood Wanderers’ application was assessed on its merits, like other local clubs that play an important role in supporting young people and the wider community,” he said.
Liverpool Olympic Sports and Social Club similarly donated $1,100 to Kaliyanda in late February 2023. Two days ago, a similar donation of $1,280 was made to the party’s Leppington candidate, Nathan Hagarty. These are the club’s only two political donations that must be reported.
Kaliyanda later nominated the club to fund $85,000 for the improvement of Hoxton Park Reserve. This was the then-candidate’s second-largest allocation of funds under the program.
The date of fund allocation is uncertain. The allocation is not included in the original list of projects nominated for grants, which should have been awarded by the council rather than the football club.
The club received $85,000 as part of Kaliyanda’s allocations through the LSCA for improvements to Hoxton Park Reserve, including new canteen facilities and pitch lighting improvements.
Kaliyanda said he raised the conflict of interest before the election but did not respond to questions about the source of the donation or how he determined the club should receive funding rather than other community organizations.
Instead, he gave a nearly identical statement to someone in Special Secretary of State John Graham’s office.
“The projects were assessed by an independent panel on merit, value for money and deliverability, and MPs played no role in this decision-making process,” Kaliyanda said in a statement. “Who organizations donate to is their business. Many organizations and businesses donate to both sides of politics.
“Liverpool Olympic FC has been serving families in my community for over 40 years. Anyone who believes local sports clubs do not deserve modest grants to improve local facilities should say so; there were a wide range of projects funded that were vital to our community.”
Chris Rath, one of the Liberal leaders involved in the parliamentary inquiry examining the LSCA plan, said the issue “does not pass the broadcast test”.
“It is highly unusual and irregular for MPs to seek donations from local community groups they are supposed to serve. It is questionable what would motivate parents to transfer the money they have given to their children’s football club to a Labor political campaign,” he said.
Neither Kaliyanda nor Cotsis’ funding nominations were subject to the ministry-sanctioned review of projects funded under the LSCA plan in October 2023.
A NSW government spokesman said: “A total of $400,000 is being funded for small local projects for every constituency around NSW. This is in stark contrast to the firehose of pork barrel funds the Coalition has funneled to Liberal and National Party voters under John Barilaro.”
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EXPLANATION
The previous version said: “There are no allocations in the original list of projects nominated for grants.”
Max Maddison is the state political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald.
