Arabic version: خبيرة تنتقد ألبانيزي بسبب منحة لنادي غولف

According to The Guardian, constitutional expert Anne Twomey has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of “grey corruption” over a $6m grant to Marrickville Golf Club in his Grayndler electorate.

Twomey, a University of Sydney professor emerita, made the assessment in a submission to a Senate inquiry examining an opaque, invitation-only $560m grants scheme. The program funded projects Labor promised during the 2025 election campaign and largely directed funding to Labor-held seats.

Albanese promised $6m for upgrades at the golf club during the campaign. The grant was awarded in July 2026 through a “closed non-competitive” process. Twomey said grey corruption covers government actions that favour private or political interests over the national interest.

Albanese had said the funding was intended to address problems caused by raw sewage entering the nearby Cooks River. Twomey wrote that his 2025 announcement instead referred to renovations and harvesting stormwater to irrigate the golf course. Responding to Albanese’s statement that he made no apology for serving his electorate as a good local member, she said the matter concerned “the misuse of public money at the public’s expense”.

Twomey also highlighted more than $58,000 in five earlier grants to the club over four years, covering work including toilets, the club-house, lockers and tree planting. Apart from one 2019 grant, they were classified as closed and non-competitive. She called the system a “farce”, arguing guidelines were drafted after promises to ensure they could be fulfilled, while warning that public money must still be spent efficiently and ethically.