Rundle hits back over grants controversy

Nationals WA MP Peter Rundle has resumed his campaign for the State Government to fund a drought relief grant after he was cleared of any conflict of interest in the wake of a clash with Water Minister Dave Kelly. Mr Rundle spoke to the Observer after it emerged he had not declared he was among the applicants for a round of grant funding which hinges on the State Government matching Federal funding. The Roe MP questioned Water Minister Dave Kelly in State Parliament last week about matching funding for the Federal Government’s On-Farm rebate scheme, which was introduced in 2019 to contribute 25 per cent of the cost — capped at $25,000 — to farmers who invest in water infrastructure on their properties. But Mr Kelly criticised the Katanning farmer for not declaring that his farm was one of the 411 outstanding WA applicants. Mr Kelly said Mr Rundle’s failure to declare his personal financial interest was “not the standard that members should display in this house”. “Not once, not twice, but three times (Mr Rundle) has come into this place and raised an issue, and argued that Western Australian taxpayers’ funds should be expended, when he is a direct financial beneficiary of that scheme,” Mr Kelly said in parliament last Wednesday. “Politicians are often accused by members of the public of coming into this place to feather their own nests. “The Member for Roe should have done the right thing and informed the house that he was a direct beneficiary of what he was arguing for and then there could have been no complaint, but he did not.” Mr Rundle, who said his grant application was for about $2500, apologised for any perceived conflict of interest. He has since been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Peter Watson. “We’ve got a situation where the Federal Government has announced another $50 million potentially to be distributed to all of the states for on-farm water infrastructure,” Mr Rundle told the Observer this week. “WA could potentially get anywhere between $5-$10 million but the key to it is is that the State Government must match the funding, which I think is fair enough, considering they just announced a $1.2 billion dollar surplus. “I’ve obviously been pressing the minister in that one — I've got 10 of the 12 water deficiency declared areas of the state are in my Roe electorate. “I’ve been advocating that this is a great opportunity to help not only current applicants but future applicants, because as we all know, many dams in the electorate won’t be making it through the summer again.”