Australia’s Albanese government has been accused of “grey corruption” over a $6.05 million grant to a golf club in the prime minister’s electorate, with constitutional expert Anne Twomey describing the federal grants system as a “farce”.
Twomey, professor emerita at the University of Sydney, told a parliamentary inquiry that Marrickville Golf Club had already received five federal grants totalling almost $58,000 before Anthony Albanese promised the larger sum during the 2025 election campaign.
The earlier payments were made through schemes in which local MPs could nominate organisations for funding. They were classified as “closed, non-competitive” grants, meaning projects were not meaningfully assessed against competing claims for public money.
In a submission to the Senate inquiry, Twomey said the grants were “effectively gifts of political largesse, funded by taxpayers”.
The inquiry was established after an investigation by the Centre for Public Integrity found that almost three-quarters of the Albanese government’s $560.9 million Major and Local Community Infrastructure Program had gone to seats notionally held by Labor or to competitive electorates.
Constitutional concerns over the golf club grant
Twomey argued that the scheme’s original design was constitutionally invalid because the Commonwealth did not have a general power to directly fund local sporting and community facilities.
The programme was later altered so grants could be channelled through state or local government bodies under section 96 of the Australian Constitution. Twomey said that change appeared to make the Marrickville grant constitutionally valid, but warned that public money still had to be spent efficiently, effectively, economically and ethically.
“The system is a farce, with the paperwork drafted to justify decisions already made without any consideration of merit, need, value for money or the public interest,” she wrote.
She said the grant rules had been designed to give the appearance of integrity while enabling politicians to fulfil promises that had already been made.
Marrickville Golf Club received previous funding for clubhouse toilets and lockers, computer upgrades, energy-saving lights and benches around the course. Some of those grants were awarded while the Coalition was in government, although Albanese was the local MP throughout the period and could nominate organisations under the relevant programmes.
Albanese announced the $6.05 million commitment in April 2025, saying it would “secure the future” of the club. The New South Wales government separately provided $269,500 that year to connect the clubhouse to the sewer system and reduce reliance on septic tanks that could overflow during floods.
The prime minister’s honorary membership of the club was not disclosed in the announcement and was revealed later by the ABC. Albanese said he had not known he held the membership and had not visited the clubhouse “for many, many years”.
Twomey referred to the Productivity Commission’s description of politically driven grants as “grey corruption”. Commissioner Danielle Wood used the term for government decisions that favour private or political interests over the national interest.
“Federal politicians should not be making election promises about specific local projects and should not be making promises for the spending of public money based on political self interest rather than the public interest,” Twomey wrote.
She also cited research by Labor MP Andrew Leigh, conducted when he was an academic, into the Coalition’s sports grants controversy. The research suggested that politically directed grants did not necessarily bring electoral rewards.
“No, this is not about ‘being a good local member’,” Twomey wrote. “It is about indulging in grey corruption and the misuse of public money at the public’s expense.”
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has defended the programme, saying it was consistent with longstanding practice and updated grants rules and principles.
