Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government Stephen Jones MP and Labors Waste Watch Spokesperson, Matt Keogh MP have written to the Deputy Prime Minister demanding answers on the surprise announcement of $3 million in Federal Government grants funding made by One Nation Senator Peter Georgiou this week.

In a week where the Government has been rocked with instability there are more serious questions about governance and decision making:

• Has the Government entered into an agreement with One Nation where grants are being exchanged for votes on Government legislation?
• Has the government outsourced the announcement of any further projects to Senator Hanson, Senator Georgiou or any other cross bench Senator in exchange for votes?

What dodgy deal has been done by the Minister for Finance, Senator Cormann to allow One Nation to make large funding announcements on behalf of the Morrison Government?, Mr Jones said.

This is a highly unusual situation for a government to outsource such a large announcement to a non-government senator.

Unfortunately, it is not the first time we have seen this irregular situation. Last year, Senator Cormann gave One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson a boost in Queensland with $15m in grant announcements.

Giving that free kick to One Nation caused ructions between the Liberal and National Parties for good reason, Mr Jones said.

Member for Burt, Matt Keogh MP said that this is not the first time that the Liberal Party had done dodgy deals in WA with One Nation.

What is most extraordinary about this announcement is that the owners of the land for the proposed project, the City of Vincent werent even consulted, neither was the States peak soccer body, Football West.

The Council made a decision not to enter into a long-term lease with Floreat Athena Football club in 2017 due to financial concerns about meeting their fiscal responsibilities.

As Labors Waste Watch Spokesperson Im concerned that such a significant amount of money has been allocated frivolously without appropriate viability testing, due diligence or community consultation.

Outsourcing announcements to One Nation, no doubt while negotiating for votes in the Senate, and handing over millions of dollars without due diligence is becoming a habit for this Government.

We may have a new PM but the Government is still lacking in probity.

The WA Liberals need to explain how they came to make this decision, and how they came to hand it off to One Nation.