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Exclusive: senior officials claim no ‘specific recollection’ of a hastily convened teleconference to discuss colour-coded spreadsheetsSport Australia defied a Senate committee request to respond to questions about its role in the Morrison government’s controversial sports grants program, while senior officials involved in the administration of the grants claim to have no “specific recollection” of a hastily convened teleconference to discuss the government’s colour-coded spreadsheets.Sport...

Prime minister won’t address evidence from Bridget McKenzie that creates doubt about who made last-minute changes to the grantsScott Morrison has refused to answer questions about the sports grants saga, as Labor cites fresh evidence from the former sports minister Bridget McKenzie that she didn’t change the brief and attachments laying out the controversial funding decisions after 4 April, 2019.On Thursday evening McKenzie revealed...

Anthony Albanese asks why the briefing is dated 4 April when approval was given on 11 April, the day the election was called. All the day’s events, live 4.29am GMT The prime minister is holding a press conference at 3.45pm in the PMO courtyard, the most serious of press conference locations. 4.28am GMT The Senate inquiry into the sports grants affair has been extended...

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary must be seen to be independent, opposition leader says The federal opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, has said top bureaucrat Phil Gaetjens must show his independence in the sports grants scandal “that just stinks”.Gaetjens, the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, wrote on Friday to the Senate inquiry into the sports grants saga that cost...

Anthony Albanese accuses the PM of personal involvement in the sports rorts scheme following the auditor general’s new evidenceAnthony Albanese has accused Scott Morrison of personal involvement in the Coalition’s controversial $100m sports grant program and misleading parliament by claiming that all projects funded were eligible.The Labor leader cited evidence from the Australian National Audit Office on Thursday evening that in fact 43% of...

The senate has turned up the heat on the government to release the PM&C report into the sports grants affair. All the day’s events, live 10.22pm GMT Australia’s chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel is delivering today’s National Press Club address.He spoke to Sabra Lane on ABC AM this morning and was asked what impact climate change had on the summer bushfires:Climate change of course...

Party tensions come to boil as Richard Di Natale shocks Canberra by standing down as Greens leader. All the day’s news, live 6.55am GMT “With due respect, there will be a spill, and I will be standing. The prime minister talks about the quiet Australians, our job is to represent the near invisible Australians,” Barnaby Joyce says.“... We’ve got to make sure that we...