Sydney Council to Repay $36 Million in ‘Egregious Pork-Barrelling’

The money came from the Coalition government’s Stronger Communities fund, which a 2021 inquiry found was improperly allocated on a politically partisan basis.

Former New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announces her resignation during a press conference in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 1, 2021. Bianca De Marchi - Pool/Getty Images

Hornsby Shire Council, in Sydney’s north, is to be forced to repay most of the $40 million grant it received to build a park that never happened.

The money came from the former Coalition government’s Stronger Communities fund, which was established in 2017 to support councils that were forced to merge.