The NSW opposition has threatened to refer a controversial government move to effectively exclude Labor electorates from urgent bushfire recovery funding to the state’s corruption watchdog.

• John Barilaro’s office denied bushfire funds in Labor seats (2 February 2023)

Labor leader Chris Minns says he will request a formal investigation into decisions by former deputy premier John Barilaro’s office if the ex-Nationals leader fails to answer questions about the Black Summer grants program.

“If we don’t get answers today … I do think it needs to be referred to the (Independent Commission Against Corruption) to determine what happened here,” he told radio station 2GB on Friday.

A report by the NSW Auditor-General revealed Mr Barilaro’s office intervened in the program and inexplicably created a $1 million minimum for fast-tracked bushfire recovery projects.

That threshold cut about 10 projects from a shortlist, including all five from Labor electorates.

Mr Minns said the report was damning, adding: “It can’t just float away as if no one had written it or read it.”

Mr Barilaro has not commented publicly on the report.

The $541.8 million Bushfire Local Economic Recovery program was jointly funded by the state and federal governments and administered by NSW.

The audit, tabled in NSW parliament on Thursday, showed 21 projects worth more than $95 million were funded in coalition seats and one worth $12.5 million in an independent electorate.

Former coalition minister and Bega MP Andrew Constance said he was “incredulous” that party politics appears to have stopped urgent bushfire grant funding being distributed to some communities.

In Bega Valley Shire, a Liberal-held area where 500 homes were lost, the only fast-tracked project was a $3 million proposal with neighbouring Snowy Valley.

“I’m incredulous and I know fire communities will be incredulous,” Mr Constance told 2GB.

“The report cites Labor areas but the point I make is there were places like Bega Valley that weren’t fast-tracked. But money in subsequent rounds did flow.”

Mr Constance, who retired in 2021, said Mr Barilaro had led the state’s recovery and taken necessary steps but now needed to explain himself.

The auditor-general found the fast-tracked first round of the bushfire recovery program lacked integrity and transparency.

The report acknowledged most of the worst-affected regions were held by coalition MPs but ravaged areas including the Blue Mountains and Tenterfield were among those excluded.

“This is a disgrace of the highest order,” Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill told AAP.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said he would consider possible improvements in light of the report but denied the funding was pork-barrelling.

The audit found other rounds of bushfire grants largely aligned with guidelines and were supported by documentation but eligibility criteria could have been strengthened.

By Luke Costin and Stephanie Gardiner in Sydney

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