Senator Bridget McKenzie has agreed to face a Senate committee next month over her involvement in the sports rorts saga, after being ordered to do so by senators.
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The Wodonga-based senator, who faces questions over the administration of the grants when she was sports minister, has agreed to appear before the inquiry into the community grants program on February 12.
Legal experts and community organisations, such as Beechworth Lawn Tennis Club, have appeared at the inquiry since it was established in early 2020, but this will be Senator McKenzie's first appearance.
She wrote in a letter she would appear, but asked for more information regarding the committee's intentions, saying she wanted to ensure the request wasn't just a "cheap political stunt".
"I am yet to receive a detailed statement of matters to be dealt with during my appearance that I haven't already addressed in my submission nor a 'transcript of relevant evidence already taken' by the committee that would justify my need to attend for any other reason than a cheap political stunt," Senator McKenzie wrote in the letter.
She also slammed suggestions she had declined prior requests to appear before the inquiry and called the Senate's order for her appearance "unprecedented".
"With regard to my attendance to an inquiry hearing, at no time have I 'declined to' appear before the committee," Senator McKenzie wrote.
"Nonetheless the committee has sought to take the unprecedented action through the Senate order of 9 December, to direct a fellow senator to appear."
IN OTHER NEWS:
The senator was first invited to appear in a May email with a hearing tentatively scheduled for mid-June.
Responses from Senator McKenzie in June show the former minister directing the committee to her written submission on the matter and calling the request "highly unusual."
In correspondence with committee chair and Labor senator Anthony Chisholm, Senator McKenzie said she was unavailable for proposed hearing dates and requested more information.
A report by the Auditor-General's office in January 2020 found the then-sports minister overlooked applications for sports grants found worthy by government agency Sport Australia while her office ran its own assessment process favouring marginal electorates.
Senator McKenzie has denied any wrongdoing.
Her appearance at the inquiry comes as Beechworth Lawn Tennis Club continues its legal challenge in the Federal Court, calling for the decision to not award it funding in the sports grants program to be overturned.
