The Morrison Government has been accused of using drought assistance funds for political gain after Singleton missed out on financial assistance despite supposedly less eligible communities receiving millions in grants.
With 11 percent of the workforce employed in the agricultural sector, drought-affected Singleton falls short of the 17 percent requirement to receive government funding - yet six other local government areas that also fell short received aid through the Drought Communities Program.
State Member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon has claimed the then-Regional Services Minister Bridget McKenzie - currently embroiled in a similar sports grants scandal - ignored the program's eligibility guidelines to pork-barrel electorates in the lead-up to the 2019 election.
Of 14 councils that received million dollar grants, 13 belonged to Coalition seats.
"The numbers don't stack up - clearly Singleton's agriculture and processing workforce is sufficiently high to be receiving this money, and I'm demanding the government step up."
Mr Fitzgibbon says the Singleton community was left trying to understand why they had been excluded from funding.
"The answer is that the criteria of the DCP was not evenly applied. Bridget McKenzie controlled the Drought Communities Program and ensured many drought-affected communities could not access the $1 million grants. This Government has lost the bush."
