Follow the day’s news live Grants program for target seats an idea ‘as old as ancient Greece’, says Clare Jason Clare has denied accusations of pork-barrelling against the government over an “invite-only” community infrastructure grants scheme that handed the majority of its money to safe, marginal or key Labor seats. That’s democracy … if you’re in an election campaign and you make a promise as the local member, people expect that you’ll deliver on it. And that’s what this fund does. I don’t think that that is new. This is probably as old as ancient Greece. Good politicians know that you don’t necessarily win elections by having a chat on the telly. You do it by having a chat on the front door of people’s homes and meeting people where they are. Continue reading...