By Lucinda Garbutt-Young in Canberra

A senior cabinet minister has defended direct correspondence with a council in his electorate, encouraging it to apply for a sought-after grant program to give its women’s soccer club a home.

Health Minister Mark Butler encouraged City of Charles Sturt council, partially in his South Australian electorate, to apply for funding in an invitation-only grant program before proper costing was completed, documents obtained by the ABC showed.

His office reportedly urged the mayor to submit a proposal for the redevelopment of Jubilee Reserve, home to the female-only soccer club Adelaide Jaguars, which was valued at around $6 million.

Federal Labor then pledged $5 million for the project in the lead-up to the 2025 election.

The council had originally requested $1.2 million for lighting and development of a master plan for the reserve, but asked for more after being approached by Mr Butler’s staff, the ABC first reported.

The commitment was in line with best practice for election grants, Mr Butler told AAP, and was an opportunity to support female sports.

He said the club did not have a home ground at the time of the application and had to turn away more than 100 players.

“My office had multiple discussions with the City of Charles Sturt council about what a redevelopment of Jubilee Reserve would look like, and what federal funding would be needed to deliver the project,” he said.

“The council outlined to us in a detailed budget proposal how much funding would be needed to develop Jubilee Reserve.”

The funding revelation came after a Centre for Public Integrity report found 45 electorates were not invited to apply for a $560 million community and sport infrastructure program and did not receive any funding.

A golf club in the prime minister’s electorate, where he was made an honorary member, was also awarded a grant.

It was designed to fulfil election promises made by successful candidates in the 2025 election and to provide a one-off, invite-only grants round the following year.

Competitive programs, where guidelines are agreed on and eligible parties apply, and closed grant programs are both legal and legitimate ways of funding election commitments.

Key to the funding revelations is a question of whether the Albanese government has misused a funding system to win favour with constituents, as its coalition counterpart did six years ago.

In 2020, a report found Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie had breached ministerial standards in not disclosing her membership of a gun club that received funding. She quit the Morrison cabinet as a result.

Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume told News24 the grant “stinks” and called into question Labor’s integrity.

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