VICTORIA'S Auditor General has been unable to assess the effectiveness of $1.4 billion in gaming taxes diverted into the Victorian Government's Community Support Fund.
The fund was established in 1991 and in recent years has generated about $100 million annually, for projects ranging from swimming pool upgrades to community arts.
In his report, released last week, Auditor-General Des Pearson said the fund's overall performance "cannot presently be assessed as it has no explicit objectives and there is no monitoring, evaluation or reporting on its overall effectiveness".
"The CSF has no agreed enduring objectives, or an overarching policy framework to guide and/or focus distributions within the broad legislative areas."
The Weekly Times attempted to gain details on CSF grants last month, in a bid to assess how much had been allocated to regional Victoria.
But there was no listing of individual grant recipients, making analysis impossible.
The Department of Planning and Community Development, which administers the fund, eventually released details of its 2008-09 grants this month, just days before the Auditor-General's report was tabled in Parliament.
The 2008-09 grants indicate the average per capita payment from the fund was $16 in metropolitan Melbourne and $22 in regional Victoria. The figures do not include CSF grants covering statewide programs.
In his response to the Auditor-General's report, DPCD secretary Yehudi Blacher said the department had implemented management and administration processes to ensure all funds were spent for the purposes approved.
Opposition Community Development spokesman Gordon Rich-Phillips said the Auditor-General's report revealed serious shortcomings in the transparency, accountability and distribution of the CSF.
"It appears the CSF has become the Brumby Government's own private slush fund, and Labor must act immediately to implement the recommendations of both the Auditor-General and the Gaming Inquiry to provide transparency and accountability when dealing with these funds," Mr Rich-Phillips said.
The CSF is funded from taxes on hotel electronic gaming machines, which generated $141.9 million in 2007-08. Almost $97 million was poured into the CSF, with $45m diverted into drug rehabilitation.
