A Victorian tennis club may take legal action after missing out on $500,000 under the federal government's controversial sports grants scheme, despite qualifying for the handout.
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The Beechworth Lawn Tennis Club in Victoria, established in 1935, says it's been struggling for 20 years to upgrade its facilities and has issued a letter of demand to the Australian Sports Commission for a reassessment of its application.
The action, through Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, follows further revelations on Wednesday about the Morrison government's actions regarding the allocation of millions of dollars in sports funding as the May 2019 election was called.
Sport Australia has admitted giving a Senate committee the wrong evidence about the timing of the final decision on the controversial $100 million grants program that funnelled money into projects on coalition-targeted seats.
Under the caretaker conventions, governments are not supposed to make major decisions during an election period.
Maurice Blackburn warned if the ASC refused to confirm it would undertake the reassessment process again by March 17, "Federal Court proceedings will be issued".
"A Federal Court challenge would be a test case about the legality of the sports rorts affair," the firm said.
"If the BLTC is successful in a legal challenge, the benefit is likely to flow through to all other clubs that should have received grants on merit."
The letter of demand accuses former sports minister Bridget McKenzie and Prime Minister Scott Morrison of seeking to maximise the prospect of the coalition winning the federal election when deciding whether or not to grant applications.
"That is a nakedly political consideration that is, as a matter of statutory interpretation, a completely irrelevant consideration for the Commission."
Maurice Blackburn says the Indigo Shire Council, on behalf of the BLTC, applied for a grant of $500,000 under the Community Sports Infrastructure Grant Program In September 2018 to fund the building of new tennis facilities and a clubhouse.
The grant was rejected despite qualifying under the ASC criteria.
BLTC president Andy Carr said the club had been struggling for 20 years to upgrade its facilities.
"We've just be thwarted by corruption at every turn. We worked hard for six weeks on the grant application and easily qualified," he said.
"It's just left us devastated. The club has dwindled in numbers because we haven't got anywhere to play tennis. People in the town have to drive for over 30 kilometres just to take their kids to hot-shots."
Australian Associated Press
